Brain Injury
by youngshorty1919
Summary: This is the story of a Fighting Dragon member named Chenguang Wu, who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident after the tournament. The accident occurred on July 23, 2006 and it took her 3 years to recover due to financial reasons.
1. Chapter 1

So I started writing this story 3 years ago and posted it on other sites but I decided to ignore it there because my writing was so terrible and back then, I didn't know a lot about brain injury. But overtime, my writing improved and I'm learning more about brain injury so I decided to finalize my draft and post it here.

* * *

Chapter 1

Chenguang's POV

It was a nice, sunny day at the park and Mei Ying is sitting at the bench with me besides her. She became one of my closest friend since I moved here four years ago from Shanghai. They took me out to the park only a couple times in the past two years the weather allows us to. It's actually not that common that I'm outdoor since the accident.

On July 23, 2006, I was riding in the car with my parents, leaving the tournament after the Fighting Dragons won. We weren't on the road long when a truck was unable to stop at an intersection and slammed into the passenger side of the car. Thankfully, nobody died but while my parents had minor injuries, I suffered a traumatic brain injury that left me unable to walk or talk to this day. But the only way I can communicate is by blinking; one for yes, two for no. I was in a coma for ten months. In the span of ten months, I was transferred into three hospitals. During the first month since that night, I was in the ICU Center; for another month, I was in the rehab center to wean me off the ventilator and they put a tracheotomy on my neck; and for the next eight months until I woke up, I was in Beijing Long Term Care Center. During that time, my family had Mr. Han, the maintenance man, upgraded the house to suit my needs. He sometimes fixes my wheelchair too. Most of the time, they mostly had me holding something in my hands to keep my fists from contracting. Somehow I came out with barely a scratch on me physically but the damage in my brain is pretty extreme.

After I came out of the coma, they did some tests with me and resulted into me having a Locked ln Syndrome. It's a medical condition, usually resulting from a stroke that damages part of the brainstem, in which the body and most of the facial muscles are paralyzed but consciousness remains and the ability to perform certain eye movements is preserved. I could've come out of the syndrome and get the treatment I need, but for financial reason, I was still unable to. So my family are working hard to make ends meet.

My two relatives Mingmei and Ling, who are registered nurses, came from Shanghai to take care of me while my parents work. I used to do Kung Fu but with the situation I'm in, it won't be anytime soon before I can get back into it.

My friends, including my boyfriend Keung, would come see me everyday. Sometimes, some of them are busy with homeworks and I understand, but Keung made sure to visit me everyday.

I noticed Mei Ying lifted her head up from her music sheet and started to stare at something. I tried with all my might to move my head to follow her general line of sight. As I managed to see what she was looking at, at first, I was confused as to why she's staring at a bunch of boys playing basketball, but I noticed a caramel-skinned kid that I don't recall seeing. He had braids all the way down his neck. I don't think I ever saw such hairstyle before. I figured he must be who she was looking at.

We watched him miss a shot and started saying something like, "My shooting hand got some jet lag."

As the kid picked up a ping pong ball rolling across the ground, I noticed my friend smiling after he looked at us. I looked at her with a knowing look on my face.

The kid went to the ping pong man who I recognized as an expert. There's no way this kid can beat him.

Mei Ying continued to giggle as the kid went from playing a simple game to a challenge. I noticed she seems to can't take her eyes off him. I have a feeling she's thinking what I'm thinking.

* * *

Third Person

Harry and Dre, the new kid, are sitting on their basketballs, resting after a day's fun.

**"He's really good. I never see him lose to anybody,"** said Harry.

**"Yeah,"** Dre agreed, glancing at the girl far from him. **"Who was that girl in the wheelchair next to her?"** He pointed with his finger to where Chenguang was previously.

Mei Ying had took her back to her house after she started getting tired earlier.

**"That's Chenguang. She got in a car accident three years ago that left her like this. She can't walk and talk. She can still move her eyes around, though,"** Harry explained.

**"Oh wow, that's sad, man,"** Dre replied, wincing. Harry nodded.

**"Yeah,"** Harry agreed. **"Hey, since you're looking at her friend, you should go talk to her, unless you're scared."**

**"I'm not scared of anything."**

**"Then do it. Go. Come on,"** Harry encourages him.

**"Cool. Right now,"** said Dre.

Dre stood up and walked over to the girl.

Mei Ying's POV

**"Hey, um... what's up?"** I heard an unfamiliar voice asked in English. I know English as well as my friends. I looked at him and it turned out to be the boy I had noticed earlier when he played basketball and ping pong.

I didn't say anything, I just looked at him.

**"I forgot, no English. Umm... ni hao mao? Shushen... muji?"**

I giggled. **"What language is that?"**

**"You speak English?"** I nodded.

**"Me too."** This kid is so silly. **"So, what you're listening to?"**

I removed my headphones. **"Bach."**

**"Bach? I listen to them all the time, they are tight. Wait, you ever heard of this?"** He handed me his phone and the music started playing. I rocked my head along with the beat. **"Oh yeah, you like that, huh? Wait."** And the kid started dancing. I giggled again.

He said some stuff like, **"Wait, whoa. It's going over here. It's going below. Wait, wait. It's coming back."**

**"May I touch your hair?"** I asked shyly. I never saw anyone with hair like that. From the way he looked at me, I assumed no one asked him to touch his hair before.

**"You wanna touch... my hair?"** I nodded. **"Umm... sure."**

I lifted my left hand and skiddled my fingers around the scratchy texture of his hair and giggled when I heard footsteps. I looked and it's my friend Cheng.

I stopped the music and Cheng glares at me and spoke in our native language, "You should be practicing."

"I am practicing," I said with a half-smile on my face.

"If you are, then you won't need this!" Cheng snatched the music sheet and threw it on the ground.

"What's your problem?!" I stood up angrily.

**"Leave it,"** Cheng told the kid as he's picking up the sheets.

We continue to argue and I noticed from my peripheral vision that his friends came by to see the commotion with smug grins on their faces.

Cheng smacked the sheets out of his hand and the kid yelled, **"Come on, dude!"**

"Knock it off!" I yelled. I turned around and packed up my stuff. We still continued to argue.

**"I said, leave it!"** He yelled again. He tried smacking the sheet again but the kid moved it out of the way. To make matter worse, he glares at him. Cheng doesn't take that too kindly. He shoves his arm away and lay his hand in his face, pushing him down to the ground.

Keung's POV

Immediately, Liang and Zhuang were approaching at Cheng's sides. I don't like how this was unfolding and I would be able to at least intervene but there's no chance Cheng would leave him alone now.

I noticed the angry expression on Mei Ying's face switched into horror as the new American kid scrambled to his feet, taking on a shaky fighting stance.

Liang and Zhuang were at Cheng's side, with Zhuang pointing out that he's challenging him to a fight.

Cheng, amused, turned toward the American, motioning with one hand for him to attack.

"Go! Go!" Zhuang whooped, drawing his friends into his cheer.

Third Person

Looking determined, he charged forward. In a split second before he would make impact, Cheng ducked down, performing a simple and neat sweep kick, swiping the boy's feet right out from under him.

Mei Ying tried to help the American, but Liang caught hold of her, shoving her behind him to prevent her from interfering with the the fight. She sent him a glare, but he just impassively turned his gaze back to the fight. Meanwhile, Zhuang bent down and dragged the American back onto his feet, encouraging him to finish the fight he started.

"Go hit him!"

The American jerked his arms out of his grasp, looking from Zhuang as he encourages him to fight. He looked at Mei Ying, hoping for her to translate but she can't bring herself to.

When Zhuang figured he can't speak Mandarin, he switched to English. **"Go get him! Go get him!"**

He turned back toward Cheng, who was starting to smirk in amusement at his friends' antics.

**"Go! Go! Go! Go!"** everyone else but Keung chanted, erupting into cheers when the American ran at Cheng again.

Cheng stepped forward to meet the boy's reckless attack, easily flipping him right over his shoulder. The boy landed squarely on his back, letting out a strangled yelp of pain as the wind was knocked out of him.

"Yeah!" Zhuang cheered as Mei Ying turned away from the sight.

"Listen, he didn't do anything wrong. You really don't have to do this." Harry tried to reason with Cheng.

Cheng barely listened before pointing at a opposite direction. "Move."

Harry backed off as ordered. As he melted back into the crowd that had formed around them, the new kid got up shakily and ran an arm across his eyes twice, his bottom lip trembling. He lunged forward, swinging his fist, but Cheng caught it effortlessly; two kicks, and the boy was sent crumbling to the ground again.

"Let me go!" Mei Ying screamed, ripping away from Liang and Zhuang's grip. She ran up to Cheng, grabbing his shoulder and forcefully turning him around to yell in his face. "That's enough! Stop fighting him!"

Cheng wheeled back around and glared down at the American, asking in English, **"You want to fight?"**

Suddenly, to everyone's shock, the boy shot up and knocked Cheng down. Everybody went like, "Ooh!"

The American boy had merely got in a lucky shot; after being knocked down, Cheng jumped right back up as if he had never landed on the ground in the first place and continued beating the American into the ground with sharp, simple blows. Liang and Zhuang continued to grip Mei Ying as she kept yelling. Finally, Cheng straddled the boy and delivered a strong blow to his eye.

Seeing that the fight was over, Liang and Zhuang released Mei Ying who rushed over to Cheng. She grabbed his shirt and shoved him off the American, giving him the most angry glare she could. "I said leave him alone!"

Mei Ying pushed her anger for him aside and crouched down next to the American, who was curled on his side, pressing both hands to the eye Cheng had punched.

**"Are you okay?"** she asked softly, reaching out to help him up.

**"Let me help,"** Harry slowly approached too, but stopped short a few steps away.

**"I-I'm fine,"** the boy insisted, pushing her hands away. Mei Ying and Harry exchanged a glance and reluctantly backed away. Mei Ying went back to the bench to gather her scattered things and walked back to the new kid, setting his phone down next to him.

* * *

Keung's POV

I decided to stop by Chenguang's house to fill her in about what happened at the park.

We would always update her about what's going on in our lives, even if it's something simple, such as, "School's alright." As I told her what happened, I can see in her eyes that she was annoyed at Cheng. She knows he's not fond of foreigners. She's also aware that whenever a male kid around Cheng's age challenges him, he would get a merciless beating.

I also told her that I came up with the idea that I'm going to try talking to the new kid at school tomorrow, if he ever comes to ours, so he'll at least have someone to talk to, besides Mei Ying and Harry. She looked at me as if she knew that is something I would do.

Chenguang's POV

I'm satisfied to hear that Keung would take the new kid under his wings. Like me, he never had a problem with anyone over anything, so I'm not surprised to hear that. I just wish I can talk to the new kid myself. It gets pretty annoying not being able to talk even in situations like this.

I'm also disappointed in Cheng's action at the park. It wasn't the first time he'd done this to new kids. But I noticed it's only the male counterparts that had to suffer. Keung told me that Master Li taught him to give them no mercy so Cheng took that whenever someone gets in his path. The thought of it makes me roll my eyes.

* * *

Well, what do you think? :)


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Xing is the boy with a brown shirt from the park scene. :)

* * *

Chapter 2

Third Person

The next day after the park fight, Keung got ready for school. He hoped that the new American kid will have classes with him at school so he can talk to him and prove to him that not all of Cheng's friends are bad, regarding the incident from the day before. But what if he shared that class with him along with his other friends, Cheng, Liang and Zhuang? That was Keung's main concern. That would build up even more tension and he'll have trouble trying to befriend the new kid.

He went to his best friend Xing's house, which is ten minutes away from his own, so he could walk with him.

He and his friends live fairly close to school, with the walking distance averaging around 5 to 15 minutes.

As he arrived to Xing's, he waited for about two minutes before he walked out of his house.

Xing raised his hand up and greeted his friend. "Hey, what's up, my man!"

"Hey, Xing, what's new with you?"

"Eh, same as usual. You know, I heard that the new kid goes to our school," said Xing as they started walking.

"Really?" Keung asked, trying to keep his face straight from getting happy that his chances of talking to the new kid had increased. He is always happy to make friends, so he immediately knew Dre wasn't bad the minute he first saw him.

"Yeah. I doubt Cheng will be too happy about it. I couldn't understand that he likes to beat up people for fun."

"Me either," replied Keung. "He really didn't have to be rude about it. But I doubt Cheng really want to go through with it. Master Li did told us to be merciless with our enemy and Cheng didn't want to dishonor him."

"I hear ya," said Xing.

The two made it to school and found their friends Cheng, Liang and his girlfriend Zhilan, Zhuang, Xiang, Feng and Song laughing away.

"Hey, guys," Keung and Xing greeted.

"Feng is telling us his stupid jokes," Cheng laughed. "But I can honestly say Xiang's laugh is funnier than the joke."

Liang piped in, "We all have that one friend whose laugh is funnier than the joke and Xiang... Xiang is that friend."

"We can all relate to that," Zhuang agreed.

"What kind of joke?" asked Keung, smiling in amusement.

"Some kind of weird sex joke," Zhilan chimed in, rolling her eyes.

Keung and Xing looked at each other and snickered.

"I can almost hear it," said Xing, while Keung nodded in response.

"I don't really get them, though," Zhilan replied with a confused look on her face.

"I have a theory for this topic," announced Song. "Female brain is wired differently than male, so basically, in my opinion, that provided an ability for males to understand certain jokes while women, well... they don't really understand them."

"Oh yeah! I heard about them," said Xiang.

"There's such things as too inappropriate of a joke that even I can't tell them," added Feng.

They laughed before the bell rang. They all parted to their class and Keung was hoping he'll see Dre in at least one of his classes.

* * *

He walked to his first period class, which is history. He didn't have any of his close friends in that class, so maybe there's a chance it won't be so awkward talking to him, if he ever have this class at this time.

His prediction came true when he saw Dre came in. His face lighted up, but became surprised when he saw his attire. He was clad in his school uniform. Keung was a little confused. Today isn't the day to wear the uniform.

He watched him talk to his teacher, Ms. Zhou, who pointed to an empty desk next to him. Keung smiled because he definitely will get to talk to the new kid.

As Dre was about to sit down, he eyed Keung cautiously. He recognized him as one of Cheng's friends from the park yesterday. He slowly sat down.

**"Hi,"** Keung greeted with a friendly smile.

**"...Hey,"** Dre replied with the reluctance tone in his voice.

After Ms. Zhou is done lecturing her student, she instructs them to partner up with somebody next to them as she gave them their assignment for the day. Unbeknownst to Dre, his frustration and suffocation will end soon with happiness and trust.

**"So... I expect you to make me do all the work?"** asked Dre with an assuming tone in his voice.

**"Actually, I'm not that kind of person. I won't hurt you. My name is Keung,"** he said with a thick accent.

**"I'm Dre,"** he said, still a little wary of the guy next to him. **"But, I don't get it. You hang out with that guy who gave me a black eye."**

He pointed to his left eyes which was covered in makeup.

**"Oh, that's Cheng. Sorry he did that. He usually does that to new kids."**

Dre shook his head, rolling his eyes. Then he remembered something.

**"Hey, I'm guessing you know that girl with the wheelchair and the tube in her neck?"**

**"Oh yes, she's actually my girlfriend,"** replied Keung with a smile on his face at the mention of her.

**"Oh wow, really?"** Keung nodded. **"Wow. I can't really imagine how you guys went through with the whole thing. Don't worry, you don't have to tell me. I already knew the story."**

**"Let me guess, Harry?"** asked Keung.

**"Yeah, how you know?"**

**"I saw you talking to him yesterday."**

**"Oh. What is she like? Was she mean or something?"**

**"No, no, not at all. Chenguang is very nice. She would've love to talk to you. Speaking of which, I know it's hard to believe it, but Cheng is actually a good guy. He's nice with us; just not to some new kids,"** Keung said.**"Well, he doesn't taunt all of them. Just boys. He doesn't beat up little kids and girls."**

**"Sounds like he's not completely heartless."** Keung nodded in agreement. **"How long you and Chenguang are together?"**

**"Three years."**

Dre's eyes widened. **"Damnnnn!"** Keung laughed.

**"Hey, what's with with the uniform? We wear our regular clothes today,"** Keung pointed out.

**"My mom didn't read the student handbook,"** Dre chuckled embarrassingly, rolling his eyes.

**"It's alright. It takes some adjustments,"** Keung assured.

**"Thanks,"** Dre smiled.

**"Where are you from?"**

**"Detroit, Michigan,"** Dre replied.

**"That's cool."**

They continues on their work before Keung realized they have only a few minutes before the bell rings.

**"Hey, Dre, can I see your schedule?"**

**"Sure,"** he hands it to Keung. After scanning through the paper with his eyes, he discovered Dre only have one class and lunchtime with him.

**"At least one class is better than nothing,"** Keung shrugged. As if on cue, the bell rings.

**"Well, I'll see you around. It's cool to meet you, Dre,"** said Keung as he packed up his stuff.

**"Yeah, I'll see you later, Keung,"** Dre waved before going off in his next class.

_"Okay... I'm starting to like this Keung guy,"_ Dre thought, nodding his head.

* * *

Lunchtime came and Keung walked to find Xing.

"Hey, Xing," Keung greeted.

"Hey, man, what's up?"

"Nothing much. Hey, um," Keung motions for him to stop looked around before whispering. "Listen, make sure you don't tell Cheng or anybody else about this."

"Naw, man, I got you," Xing reassured.

"Well, this morning in first period, I had the new kid and his name is Dre. I talked to him. He wasn't as bad as I knew he wouldn't be."

"Really?" asked Xing, surprised.

"Yeah, don't tell Cheng and the others. He'll most likely tell me to not associate with him."

"Naw, it's cool. What Dre said?"

"He's from Detroit. He was skeptical of me at first because he recognized me from the park. But we got to talking and he was cool. A friend of his told him about Chenguang. I'm just happy I didn't have to tell the story. It is excruciating."

"Ah, okay," Xing nodded in understanding. His friend had grew tired of having to tell the story of what his girlfriend went through because it was so hard on him, so he usually do the talking. Sometimes it gets frustrating for him too since Chenguang is his close friend as well.

They walked over to the cafeteria and they found their friends Cheng, Liang, Zhilan, Feng, Xiang, and Song sitting at their usual table. They went to grab their lunches and sat down.

"How's Chenguang doing?" Xiang asked.

Keung smiled, "She's doing good."

It makes him really happy hearing people asking him how's she doing, even if she's doing really well. He get that from not only his friends, but his teachers and even people he barely knew.

They were barely getting into eating their lunches when something caught Cheng's attention. His face turned sour when he saw Dre talking to Mei Ying.

"Hold on. Let me take care of this," said Cheng before getting up—with Liang and Zhuang following suit—and walked up behind Dre as Mei Ying was leaving.

Suddenly, the slamming noise of the tray colliding all over Dre's shirt, creating a large stain, caught everyone's attention.

**"Sorry,"** said Cheng, smiling sarcastically as he put his palms up, angering Dre.

**"Come on, dude!"** He pushed Cheng in response, but Ms. Po interfered and grabbed Dre just before another fight breaks out.

**"Mr. Parker, stop it!"**

**"He just slammed the tray all over me!"** Dre yelled.

"I accidentally knocked his tray and I apologized but he pushed me," Cheng explained quickly in Chinese, since he knew very well that Dre doesn't understand Chinese.

**"Whatever he's saying, he is lying!"** Dre yelled, pointing at Cheng.

Keung facepalmed. He worried that this would happen once Dre encounters Cheng.

**"Mr. Parker, go,"** Ms. Po pointed at an exit behind Cheng in which Dre obeyed. As he passed by him, he bumps his shoulder against his in annoyance.

**"Mr. Cheng, go,"** she pointed at an opposite direction. As he walked, he had a smirk on his face.

**"I hate this place!"** Dre exclaimed in frustration.

Cheng sat back down with his friends with a smirk written on his face.

"Really, Cheng?" Keung asked with the annoyed look on his face.

"Yeah, you got a problem?" Cheng glared at his friend, his smirk immediately changing to sour.

"...No," replied Keung as he went back to his food.

Keung mentally rolled his eyes and silently ate while contemplating to stop Cheng's actions. Cheng has always been doing it to some of the underclassmen.

* * *

After the school ended for the day, the gang parted ways and Keung found Mei Ying with some of her friends.

"Hey, Mei," Mei Ying turned around to see her friend Keung, "do you want to see Chenguang with me?"

Mei Ying nodded. "Sure. I was gonna walk home anyway."

They walked to Chenguang's house together, talking about how she is doing and hoping she'll get back on her feet.

"I spoke to Dre the new kid today," Keung spoke up.

Mei Ying looked at him slightly surprised. "Really? Cheng didn't see you or..."

"No, I had him in my history class. I don't have Cheng or the others there. So I'm safe for an hour."

"How did it go?"

"He recognized me as one of Cheng's friend from the park yesterday. But I am nice to him and he seems to be comfortable with me. I hope he is."

Mei Ying smiled. "Well, I'm glad. At least he got me, Harry and now you. You know, I expected this attitude from you so I'm not surprised." Keung smiled.

"But I do kind of worry Cheng will catch you talking to him behind his back."

"Look, it's not gonna be forever. Sooner or later, he'll find out anyway but I just have to find the right time," Keung replied.

They made it to Chenguang's house and greeted her aunt Ling as they walked in. Her parents are still at work and doesn't get off until 6pm.

They went to Chenguang's room, finding Mingmei keeping her company as Chenguang is sitting in her wheelchair.

Ever since she came home from the hospital, they have to keep a close eye on her at all time. They are very uncomfortable at the idea of leaving her alone since she literally couldn't do anything for herself. It is gritty work to keep up the constant supervision of someone with very limited brain functions.

"Hi, Mingmei," "Hey," Keung and Mei Ying greeted.

"Hey, Keung, Mei Ying," Mingmei smiled at him.

Chenguang warmed up inside as she saw Keung and Mei Ying from her peripheral vision. He kissed her head and sat down on the chair besides her as Mei Ying sat on the side of her bed opposite of Keung. Mingmei stepped out of the room to take care of things.

"Hi. So you remember that new kid from yesterday?" Keung asked; Chenguang blinked once.

"Okay. His name is Dre Parker. He goes to our school. I have him in my history class and I was pretty excited about it because I get to talk to him without having to worry about Cheng. We were talking and he was skeptical of me because I was one of Cheng's friend. I persuaded him that I am unlike him. He is from Detroit, Michigan.

"His friend Harry told him about you," Chenguang turned her head slightly and redirected her gaze to Mei Ying. "At least we don't have to worry about telling him about you. It gets too much for us."

Chenguang blinked once again in understanding.

"We became good friends," Keung smiled. Chenguang looked back at him and closed her mouth for a second, in which they assumed she's smiling.

There was silence before Keung spoke up again. "Man, you wouldn't believe what happened at lunch today. Well, something you'd kind of expect from Cheng. Dre was talking to Mei Ying as they were getting their lunch and after she left to practice, Cheng walked up behind him and slammed his tray all over him."

Chenguang creased one of her eyebrows in anger and annoyance for Cheng's action.

"Yeah, and Dre pushed him out of anger. It looked like there were gonna be another fight, but then Ms. Po interfered and Dre told her what happened. Cheng played innocent but he instead told her in Chinese since he knew Dre doesn't understand it."

Chenguang slightly rolled her eyes and sighed silently.

They continued to chat with her until it's nearly 4pm.

"Well, I'm off to kung fu. Love you, and I'll see you," Keung kisses her head, grabbed his bag and left. Chenguang warmed up again inside at the affection.

Mei Ying decided to stay with her for another couple hours after letting her parents know that she will be home right before dinner.

* * *

After Keung had left the house to his kung fu practice, his face fell as he realized that it had been almost 2 years that he's been doing this; going to school, see Chenguang afterward with some of his friends, talk to her and head out to kung fu.

Not once was she able to utter a single word.

He became sad at the thought of doing all the talking while she just sits there not being able to reply to anything he says.

"It's been too long since I've last heard her voice," Keung thought to himself sadly.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Third Person

The next day at school, Dre walked into his history class, looking forward to seeing Keung now that he became comfortable with him after he assured him he's a good guy. He smiled as he saw Keung sitting there and sat next to him.

**"Hey, Keung."**

**"Hi, Dre. Sorry about Cheng yesterday."**

Dre nodded, then said, **"Guess, I'll have to get used to it for a while."**

**"Sorry,"** Keung winces, shaking his head.

**"Yeah. I wonder why though."**

**"Well, actually, it's not entirely his fault. You see, we're in a kung fu class. Me and all of my friends. We have this master who teaches us no mercy, even if the opponent is down."**

**"What?!"** Dre made a "what-the-f" face.

**"Yeah. As must as I, or we, hate his inappropriate method, I have to comply. If we don't, he slaps us."**

**"Aw, hell no!"** Dre replied.

Then, Ms. Zhou began to lectures them about a daily assignment. Being a lenient teacher she always is, she allowed them to negotiate someone next to them as long as they aren't loud enough and is work-related. She would let them converse casually as soon as they finished their work.

With Dre and Keung being the smart guys they are, they finished their work about 15 minutes before class is over.

**"You know, I had been thinking of Chenguang all last night after school,"** Dre began. **"I never personally met someone with a brain injury before. I don't think I even heard of such condition. It felt kinda... I don't know, strange, maybe?"**

**"Yeah, I get that a lot. I noticed some people looked at her and they kind of freak out a little when they get a close up view of her in person. I told them she won't bite," **Keung chuckled at the last part. **"But really though, she get stares from little kids, which we don't mind. We'd always encourage them to say hi to her. But with older kids and adults, it's a bit uncomfortable for her and me if they stare too long."**

**"Yeah, I kind of get it. It's not often you'd see them in person, right?"**

**"Yeah,"** Keung nodded. **"I became really interested in about her condition so I've been educating myself with informations about brain injury."**

**"Interesting,"** Dre nodded.

**"I'd tell you more about it during the weekend, though because I have a tight schedule during the weekday; school, going to see Chenguang with some of my friends, kung fu, and then come home. I'm barely home 5 days a week."**

**"Wait, so... who takes care of her?"** Dre asked curiously. If Chenguang's parents work, how will she survive on her own since she has no control in moving around?

**"Two of her relatives from Shanghai came here to take care of her while her parents work,"** Keung replied.

Both of Chenguang's aunts Mingmei and Ling, quit their nursing jobs and left their hometown to take care of her. It is hard work. Someone, whether it would be her aunts or her parents, or once in a while, even Keung, would have to sleep in the chair in what's once her parents' master bedroom, now belongs to her at least for the time being, with her. Knowing Chenguang's sleep pattern, they would wake up in the middle of the night and see that she would be awake or still sleeping. Whenever she's awake, they would stay up until she fell back asleep after tending her wants and needs if she has it at the time.

**"How long that's been going on?"** asked Dre.

**"About two years. She was in the coma for 10 months and then after that, the rest is history."**

**"That's a real long time,"** said Dre. **"Wait, does she still go to school or..."**

**"No, she couldn't,"** Keung shook his head. **"She's at home all time. Only time she gets out of the house, is to appointments and to the park."** He turned his attention back to the paper, face solemn.

Dre noticed him getting sad about the topic so he decided not to talk about it any longer.

**"Oh hey, can I have your number?"** asked Keung. **"That way, I don't have to worry about Cheng knowing when we talk in person."**

**"Good idea, dude."**

They exchanged numbers as the bell rang and they all emerged from the class with Dre and Keung slowing down behind them. Though they only knew each other for a day, it looks like they will be good friends. However, Keung had to be careful not to get caught by Cheng and/or his other friends talking to Dre. Except for Xing. He sure love that guy. He totally understands, beside him being a weirdo sometimes.

So he had to leave his side as if he doesn't know him as soon as they stepped out.

**"Bye, Dre,"** Keung bidded off before leaving.

**"Bye, Keung,"** though he's already gone.

As Keung walks to his next class, he felt his emotions slowly bottling up about the situation with his girlfriend's brain injury that left her largely dependent due to her brain functions.

He walked to his friend Xing, who's waiting for him by the locker like he does every other day.

"Hey, Keung," Xing greeted his friend.

Keung grunted in response, not even looking at him.

Xing recognizes the familiar sight of his expression. He knew Keung gets like this whenever he gets depressed about Chenguang. He put his arm around his shoulder in sympathy.

* * *

Toward the end of the school day, as Keung was leaving his class, he received a text from Dre telling him what happened with Cheng.

Dre: Dude, Chun at it again. I was getting some lunch and I saw Chun and two of his friends. I freaked out so I ran off. I was hiding from them and then later on, I ran into them again. Chun was like "Gonna do something?" and he was like staring at me while his friends was messing with my bag. Dude, his glare was scary! And he told me to stay away from all of them.

Despite the misspelling of Cheng's name, Keung knew exactly who Dre was talking about.

He replied with, "-_-".

He wanted to tell Cheng and his friends to leave Dre alone but he couldn't. He doesn't know why he never done that before. Maybe he can still stick to the plan until the time is necessary.

He found Xing and walked to where the gang is at the front of the school. Keung decided to joke and laugh with Cheng as if he didn't see Dre's message.

"Hey, Cheng!" Keung and Xing high-fives Cheng and the others.

The gang, except for Xiang, Feng, and Song, started walking over to Chenguang's house.

Although all of them visits their disabled friend, they couldn't all at once because the gang—aside from Chenguang—are eight members large. That includes Cheng, Liang, Zhuang, Keung, Xing, Xiang, Feng, and Song.

Due to the large number of the gang, a few of them visits at once as to not overcrowd her.

Keung smiled at the thought of seeing her again. He always looks forward to walking to her house after school just to see her, even if she's only sleeping. Even if it's only an hour a day, it still counts. Of course, this situation is not easy, it never was, and that gives him a hard time to concentrate in school and kung fu, but, knowing her, the fact that she would want him to continue on with his life while supporting her 24/7 really gave him motivation.

His after school routine is the following: School ends at 3:00pm, so right after school, he would walk over to Chenguang's house, which is 10 minutes from the school and see her, which is at 3:10pm. He got until 4:00pm so he can leave in time to practice. Chenguang's house is also 10 minutes away by feet. Practice starts at 4:30pm and ends at 6:30pm. Then he and the other Fighting Dragons students would leave home. He would walk to his house which is a 15 minutes walk. That is a problem because he already spent two hours working his ass off at the dojo and he needed rest, so he usually spent 5 minutes sitting at a bench near the dojo. He would make it to his house at 6:50pm and go straight to shower. He would come out at 7:10pm and get dressed for the night. Dinner starts at 7:30pm and goes to bed at around 8:00pm. He would go to bed an hour later, depending on how many homework he have.

So Keung never really does have free time during the week. It would've been easier if it wasn't for the whole thing with Chenguang's brain injury, but it is what it is.

After arriving to Chenguang's house, they greeted Mingmei and walked to her room to see her on her wheelchair accompanied by Ling, like she does almost everyday.

"Hi, Chenguang," Keung said with a big smile on his face as he kissed her head.

"How's she doing?" Cheng asked Ling.

"She's doing good. She have small improvement everyday. She's getting there," Ling replied with a smile on her face.

Keung smiled widely, knowing day by day he'll see the old Chenguang he missed so much.

Keung sat down on the chair across from Chenguang as Ling left the room.

"Hey, Cheguang, guess what? I passed my history test!" Zhuang said excitedly while doing the air pump.

"Without cheating, right?" Liang asked amusedly.

"No, Mrs. Zhou let us use our note," Zhuang replied.

"I like her, she's the best," Xing laughed.

"And I have her wrapped around my fingers," Zhuang laughed.

Although Chenguang couldn't smile, she grinned inside at Zhuang and his hilarious antics.

If there's someone Chenguang is considerably the closest to, besides Keung, that would be Zhuang. They appeared to be the same age by height, although she's six months older than Zhuang. Liang once remarked that they could be fraternal twins.

When it comes to proficient academic skills, she relates the most with Liang. Like Liang, she gets high scores in her classes.

An hour goes by, her aunt Ling walked in. She knows Keung's everyday routine schedule, with the kung fu practice and all.

"I'll see you later. I love you." He kissed her head and they left with a smile on his face.

"Bye, Keung," Ling spoke up as he left. She smiled as she watched them leave.

Ling adores Keung very much. From the moment he met Chenguang to the moment he found out what happened to her, lead to him being there for her every chance he gets, is very endearing to say the least. She always looked forward to seeing him, as much as Chenguang does. She does feel bad for him because Keung did went through a lot from hearing her being in a coma to the frequent muscle spasms, issues with her trach, discomfort she felt whenever she gets sick and so forth. He is only 16 years old. But she commends him for putting up with his pain of anxiety to make sure she sees that he's there for her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Keung's POV

I was doing an intense move routine while Master Li is walking around observing to make sure we don't lose concentration.

He yelled something and we stood erect.

"What do we learn here?" He asked.

"No weakness! No pain! No mercy!" We yelled.

"What do we learn here?!" Master Li yelled this time.

"No weakness! No pain! No mercy!" We yelled again.

"Bow," Xiang yelled.

We slammed our fist into our palm and bowed when something caught my attention. I lifted my head slightly and saw Dre. I smiled in greeting and he smiled back and something caught his eyes and his face fell and I saw that he noticed Cheng, who also had his head up and smiled at him. I quickly bowed back down in order to not get caught by Master Li.

We resumed our intense move and he left. I felt so bad for him. I wish he didn't have to suffer under Cheng's wrath.

* * *

Keung's POV

The next morning after I saw Dre in the middle of my kung fu practice, I woke up and remembered today is the day we are going on a field trip to the Forbidden City. I had been there a few times before and the last I remember is when I was 12. I already know all the information so it wasn't too exciting for me. I'm sure Dre will like it. There are some intriguing information there after all.

I suddenly remembered Chenguang saying that she hadn't been to the Forbidden City. She did visited a few other attractions, although I doubt she would have much time to visit all of it in Beijing. I decided that once she gets back on her feet, I would go with her to explore more areas in my home city.

I got up and readied myself for school. I picked up my phone and saw a text from Dre asking me how's Chenguang is doing. I told him that she's doing well, she just gets tired pretty easily. It's really nice that Dre is interested in learning about her condition. He never met anybody with a brain injury before, even though perhaps he'd heard of them.

I don't think I'd ever heard of that stuff before it happened to her. I didn't think it would happen to someone that I know, especially the one that I love. I have chances to check out more stuff about the anatomy of the human brain and the injury against it during school at the library. There's a good chance she will recover. I might hear her voice again! But I also learned it could be more challenging to improve her motor and cognitive functions if it continued well into her 20's.

I pushed the negative thought out of my head as I grabbed my school bag and left my room.

After bidding goodbye to my parents, I walked to school. Maybe Dre will remember to wear a uniform today.

Speaking of which, something caught my eyes and I see Dre wearing normal clothes. I gotta start reminding him to wear it.

I meet up with my friends, chattering and laughing like always.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" I waved at my friends.

"Hey, Keung, what's up? Zhilan is pretty eager to look around the Forbidden City," said Liang.

"I am! Ever since I learned about that place, I've been wanting to go there," Zhilan beamed.

"And it'll be your first time with me," Liang said as he grabbed hold of her hand, making her blush.

Then, the sound of a whistle was heard and they turned our attention to Ms. Po.

"Alright, guys! So today, I will be in charge of the group. Once we board upon the bus, I will be roll calling and then we can get on our day. Now, I expect you guys to be on your best behavior," Ms. Po announced.

Once after the kids took their seat in the bus, with Xing sitting next to Keung, Liang sitting next to Zhilan and Cheng and Zhuang sitting across each other since there's no two empty seat left. The kids stay silent during the roll call so they can hear their name and confirm they are present.

After Ms. Po finished, the bus started moving.

"Dude, I'm getting more concerned now," Keung spoke up after a few moments of thinking.

"Why?" Xing asked curiously.

"Because it's been almost three years since Chenguang was in school for the last time. I'm really hoping she gets back on her feet soon because she's really falling behind. And with the lack of communication from her, it's impossible for her to stay on track with us."

The accident had occurred during the summer and and the first thing Keung thought, after hearing she's okay, was her education.

"Dude, relax, everything will work out fine. She will complete her education should she recover, which I strongly believe she will soon. She'll be able to get her GED and maybe graduate with us."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. You know, that's one of my concerns. No two brain injuries are the same. But depending on the injury done to her brain, she might get distracted easily and probably have some memory issues and some other stuff."

Whenever Keung gets stressed out and worry about his girlfriend's condition, Xing would always know what to say to assure him that it will work out at the end.

"I know it will be hard but we will get through it and Chenguang will be back to her normal self like she used to be before, will graduate as she should, and be with you forever," Xing added the last part teasingly.

"Thanks, man," he smiled.

"No problem," Xing smiled.

Later on, Keung got so distracted thinking about Chenguang, as he always does, that he didn't realize that they had made it to the Forbidden City. As soon as the bus stopped, the door opened and they grabbed their bags and sprawled out onto the premises. The group of friends fall back behind as they followed their peers to observe the beauty of the Forbidden City.

Keung's POV

While everyone scattered off to explore the emperor, I lingered back and rubbed the golden knobs for good luck. It is definitely needed, especially with Chenguang and her brain injury.

As I was walking and joking with Xing, I looked back and saw Dre laughing with Mei Ying and rubbing on the gold knobs. I smiled.

"What are you looking at?" Xing asked as he followed my line of sight. I didn't answer as we continued walking.

Sometimes later, I saw Cheng glaring at Dre. He looked like he was about to walk up to them and cause more trouble but Liang came into defense. He said something and Cheng glared at him.

Liang is the more sensible one. He is level-headed and rational and have more sympathy toward our enemies.

I sighed. I wished they would work out the conflict already. It's not poor Dre's fault as he only made her laugh and smile and at the end of the day, he ended up with a black eye and the feeling of fear as he encounter us, well except me since we spoke.

* * *

Hours later after observing and learning all the facts about the history of the Forbidden City, it was time to leave. I was eager to leave, because I get to see Chenguang. I love seeing her. I know whenever she sees me, it made the situation more bearable. I remembered when she was in a coma, I would stroke her head gently to make it at least a teeny bit painful. I do not like seeing her suffer. Even though I was still physically close to her, we were very much far apart emotionally since she wasn't able to talk.

We hopped on the bus and sat in the same seat as we were earlier.

"You know, when Chenguang comes back to her normal self, one of the first thing I will do is to take her to the Forbidden City."

"I'm sure she'll like that," Xing smiled.

"I know she will," I smiled too. Chenguang always appreciate everything around her. I vividly remembered taking her to the Qi Xi festival three years ago. She just took in everything she sees with amazement. That night was the night we first started dating.

We became inseparable the moment we've met. I have been so into the moment that I didn't realize it had already been almost four years since we have met. To be truthful, some people goes separate way after a certain period of time, but in my case, it's not gonna happen. I can never ever see myself in that situation. Especially when she's in that position where she can't do anything. I've grew much more attached to her ever since I learned about her condition in the aftermath of... well I don't like to say it. I've even helped out taking care of her sometimes.

We headed back to school and most of us set out to wait for their ride while some of us walks home, including me.

"Hey, you wanna come with me to see Chenguang?" I asked him.

"Sure."

"We'll see you guys later!" I waved off to my friends before walking to her house.

"See ya!" They bidded off before we went our way.

"I'm noticing that you haven't talked to Dre. He's a cool kid. I realized both of you hadn't said a word to each other," I told Xing.

"You know what, you're right. I'll need his number though." I happily complied as I gave Dre's number to him.

"Thanks, man," he smiled at me.

"No problem. Although we talk about school, I mostly tell him about Chenguang and her condition. I also told him that we sometime travels to America to the Mayo Clinic."

Chenguang flies to America with her family a few times to her appointment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota every once in a while. I never have been able to go with her because I would get busy in school, which sucks meaning I don't get to see her for a few days. But I didn't mind as long as she gets what she needs and that's all it matters.

After we arrived to Chenguang's house, we knocked the door and it opened to reveal Ling.

"Hey, Ling," we greeted in unison.

"Hi, boys, how are you," she asked us with a smile on her face.

"Good, we went to the Forbidden City," Xing replied.

"That's good. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, we did. I went there a few times anyway," I answered her.

We walked to Chenguang's room to see Mingmei watching her. She seems to be falling asleep in her wheelchair.

(Author's Note: I realized I forgot to add the description of Chenguang's room -_- so here's one)

Chenguang's room is a master bedroom. It actually used to belong to her parents but they decided to give it to her because she won't be as comfortable in her smaller room while she's in this condition. Her room is consisted of her bed in the middle. She have one of those folding beds with the silver railing. Across from the left is a leather recliner chair where one of us sleeps in with her so she's not alone. Next to it is a black wooden cabinet that has all of her medications that she needs, some to-do lists taped on the glass window as to make sure they don't forget any of the routine that she goes through on the daily basis; such as feeding her, showering her, cleaning her trach and so forth. Alongside it are some plastic drawers with stuff that she needs for her trach, her feeding tube and all that stuff. Across from it is her tv and the wall next to it was filled with some photos of Chenguang when she was still her normal self. Next to it is her large closet; above it is a shelf that has more of her prescription medications and beside it is her hoyer lift, a silver oxygen tank, and the humidifier for whenever she gets sick with an allergy.

"Hey, boys. She's tired today," Mingmei told us.

"Stayed up all night, right?" I asked her, even though I know the answer. She does that quite often due to her minimal consciousness.

"Yeah. She have her day and night mixed up a bit. She sleeps all day, and wakes in the afternoon, and then up all night."

"Oh, well maybe one day she'll get it in order again," I told her. Then I turned to Chenguang as I wrap my arm around her.

"My day at the Forbidden City is pretty cool. Once you get better, I will take you there," I told her and she blinks once and moved her mouth a little, indicating that she'd like that. I smiled as I stroked her hair.

I was telling her a little bit about the Forbidden City and I mentally decided to tell her more at another time when she's more alert.

"Do you want to be put back into your bed?" Mingmei asked her and Chenguang blinked once.

As Mingmei and Ling laid my girlfriend into bed using a hoyer lift, I looked at the photos on the wall. One was when she was eight, with her sitting on her father's shoulder making a peace sign and her mother on their right on their trip to Nanjing Road back in Shanghai. Another one is with her hugging her older cousin Gang, who was nineteen at the time, at his house when she was eleven. Then I saw some photos when she was in the hospital at Beijing Long Term Care Center. Her hair was getting a little longer but still really short, about as short as mine. There is some with me and our friends and her relatives. There is also a couple with her three friends from Shanghai when they visited her two years ago.

After she was laid in bed and we made sure she was comfortable.

We continued talking to her before we had to leave for practice. I kissed her head and we left.

* * *

Later on in my bed, I received a text from Dre from what happened. I wasn't surprised that Cheng would do something like this. I do agreed that it's karma coming for them when he threw dirty water at them. But I was surprised when he mentioned that Mr. Han ended up beating them up, well really, made them beat each other up.

I put my phone on the bedside table and reminisced the time her friends came all the way to Beijing to see her for the first time since she moved away to here and since the accident back in the summer of 2007, not that long after she came home.

Despite her not being able to express herself, I know she was overjoyed to see her friends Mingzhu, Huian, and Jinhua for the first time in two years. At first sight, they were taken aback at the appearance of her; her in the wheelchair, with the trach in her neck, with her jaws slack and not being able to move due to her injuries. But it was a really touching reunion and I was glad to meet her friends. They spent the next couple weeks here and I got to know them. Aside from talking to her, telling her what's going on in their lives, I spent some time talking to them, telling them about our relationship, our struggles, and her progress.

Flashback (Still Keung's POV)

_Chenguang was sitting in her wheelchair next to her bed and I was sitting beside her while she's facing me, waiting for her friends to show up._

_Mingzhu, Huian and Jinhua all had said they're finally coming around to see Chenguang. They said they couldn't last year after being told of her position—being in the coma, getting switched from the ventilator to her trach, extremely short hair after being shaved in order for them to relieve the pressure in her brain—and I don't blame them because it was such a hard sight to look at. The first few months was extremely difficult for us, but I managed to try to get used to it, although not completely._

_The door opened and I saw three of her friends walk in. They were caught off guard at the sight of her in that position._

_I turned back to Chenguang smiling and said, "They're here."_

_I noticed the look of surprise in her eyes and with much effort, she slightly moved her head to her right as she diverted her eyes to see her friends. Even though she couldn't express herself, I know she's more than happy to see them._

_"Heyyy, Chenguang," Mingzhu greeted as she hugged her carefully. They took turns hugging her and as they pulled away, they looked at me._

_"And you must be Keung, right?" Huian asked me._

_"Yep," I nodded, still smiling._

_"Chenguang talked about you all the time!" Jinhua exclaimed. "It's so cool that we finally got to meet you."_

_"It's great that I got to meet you guys too," I replied._

_Mingzhu turned back to her. "Well, it's so good to see you, Chenguang. I'm so glad we made it over here." Chenguang blinked once._

_"Oh, she says yes," I pointed at her. "That's her only source of communication. She blinks once for yes, twice for no."_

_We got to talking, telling her about what's going on in their lives and talked just about anything._

Present

I smiled as I remembered the reunion between them. It's one of the most significant moments in her life while she's in that position. Although it's sad that they had to see her under this circumstance, it made me happy that she got to see them nonetheless.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Keung's POV

It was the next day after the Forbidden City and I'm at the Fighting Dragons studio.

I noticed Cheng, Liang, Zhuang, Feng, Xiang, and Song were somewhat having a hard time getting through the lesson because of their injuries by the maintenance man, Mr. Han. I honestly didn't know he could do kung fu really good as they implied. They wouldn't dare opt out of Master Li's class for fear of being viewed as weak. After all, he does preach no mercy.

At some point into the lesson when Liang and Zhuang are sparring, I noticed someone from the corner of my eyes and I glanced from the spar to the person—turned out to be two—that caught my attention. I watched curiously as Dre and Mr. Han silently walked into the studio, to the oblivion of Master Li. I redirected my gaze back to the spar while Liang slammed and flipped Zhuang onto the floor separately.

They stood up and paused for a moment before Liang made the first move.

I held back my wince as Liang landed on his stomach with a painful thud. Zhuang grabbed Liang's shirt collar and as he raised his clenched fist to prepare to deliver his final blow, he paused.

"What are you doing?" Master Li asked softly. "Why did you stop?"

Zhuang looked up, probably letting his eyes pleading him not to force such a move on Liang.

"Finish!" It took a split second for Zhuang to muster up the courage to backhand Liang's neck, ended with a smacking sound. Honestly, the fact that we have to put up with overstepping boundaries with the no mercy thing in kung fu, especially in Master Li's class, is ridiculous.

"Come here," Master Li demanded in a quiet voice. We all knew what was coming. Every time we slipped up by showing mercy, he smacks us across the face.

Zhuang nervously walked up to Master Li. He stood up and slowly raised his hand. He kept it up for a second or two, before slapping him across his face and sending him staggering across the floor. It's hard enough watching our classmates getting slapped, but with Zhuang, the baby of the group, being hit by a rough, callous Master Li, was nothing short of cringe.

"Stand!" As if pressing a button, we all stood erect.

Master Li started walking around and did his usual speech about how there's no mercy in kung fu. He does this every time someone here showed mercy and getting slapped as a result.

"We do not stop when our enemy is down. No mercy. No mercy in the studio. No mercy in a competition. No mercy in life. Our enemies deserve pain."

Hearing that speech makes me wanna facepalm sometimes. I know that once I'm done with Master Li's kung fu class, I'm unlearning whatever he preaches, but I'm still gonna keep my knowledge in the physical aspect.

I noticed he stops talking and started walking over towards my direction. In a split second, I thought he's gonna come for me because I was getting distracted. I admit I do get distracted sometimes, especially when thinking about Chenguang and her condition every now and then, but somehow he never called me out on it. But it turned out he was walking over to Cheng. I mentally sighed in relief.

"What are you looking at?"

"He's the one who attacked us."

Master Li turned around and saw Dre and Mr. Han. We all started to stare at them as they walked a few steps toward us.

"We are here to make peace," Mr. Han declared.

"Let your little thing mind himself."

Mr. Han thought for a moment. "One to one, no problem... six to one, too much to ask of anyone."

"I see," Master Li replied. "Prepare for match!"

We quickly dropped on our butts immediately as Cheng, who remained standing, walked toward to the middle of the mat.

**"Whoa, Mr. Han, does he want us to fight?"** I can hear the panic in Dre's voice. He really didn't know any kung fu at all, so that would be a big challenge for him. I'm nervous for him.

"We are not here to fight," Mr. Han declined as they walked away. Master Li rushed over to them.

"You attacked my students and disrespect my studio? You want to leave? Not so easy!" He paused as he slammed his left arm over Mr. Han's chest, preventing him from moving any further.

"Master Li..." Mr. Han tries to intervene but the intimidating master grabbed Master Li fist tightly. Mr. Han grabbed Dre's arm in fear for him.

"You both came here. One of you fights now," Master Li said bitterly.

There was a moment of silence before Mr. Han made a suggestion.

"The boy will fight there." Master Li turned behind him before facing the floor and laugh maliciously as he let go of Mr. Han's hand. Mr. Han let go of Dre's arm as well.

"We accept your challenge."

Mr. Han hesitated. "Please instruct your students to leave my boy to train."

Master Li looked away before suddenly yelling, "Attention!" He turned to us.

"From now on, this little thing is to be left alone... until the tournament. Understood?!"

"Yes!" We all chorused back.

As Dre and Mr. Han walked away, Master Li turned back and interrupted them.

"Hey! If he does not show up for the competition, I will bring the pain to him and to you."

Without a response, Mr. Han left the studio while Dre lingered back and stared at Master Li with a fearful look for a second before scampering off to the maintenance man.

I mentally hope Dre attends the tournament this year because if he doesn't, then both he and Mr. Han will suffer under Master Li's wrath.

* * *

Cheng, Liang, Zhuang, Xing and I all are sitting in Chenguang's room. She had just woken up from her really long nap and is now moved to her wheelchair. I'm sitting in the chair next to her with Cheng sitting on the recliner, Zhuang sitting on her bedside and Liang and Xing standing in front of us.

"Hey, guess what? There's gonna be a tournament in a few months!" Zhuang told her excitedly.

"Yeah, Mr. Han and Dre challenged us," Cheng said boldly.

I looked at Cheng. I was thinking on how he was oblivious to me talking to Dre behind his back and me telling Chenguang about Cheng bullying him.

"Heck, Dre doesn't even know kung fu," Liang added. "How do you expect him to beat us?"

"Well, Master Li did instructed us to leave him alone until the tournament," Xing replied.

"Speaking of Dre," I spoke up, then turned to Cheng. "Cheng, I've been talking to Dre the whole time. He told me about how you, Liang, and Zhuang intimidated him at the hallway that one time and told him to stay away from us. Xing knows." Cheng glared at me.

"Why did you go talking to him behind our back?"

"Because I didn't want him to feel lonely. Now what were you thinking when you beat him up at the park?"

"Because I— wait," Cheng thought for a moment, before leaning back on the recliner. "I actually don't know."

"Is it because he's a new kid?" I asked him.

"Well, he did challenged me," Cheng defended his reason.

"I— Dude, you've been doing that to new kids. I don't like watching my best friend beating the crap out of them, especially for ridiculous reason."

There was a look of remorse on his face.

"Shit..." he mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"As long as you don't do this to Dre or anyone else anymore," I replied sternly.

"Not like Master Li lets us bother him until the tournament," Cheng remarked, as if being sarcastic.

"Cheng!" I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, okay! I promise I won't do this!" Cheng exclaimed.

"You mean "we". "We" won't do this anymore," Zhuang responded. "I told you yesterday Dre had enough of the beating and you came back with Master Li's usual sayings."

"Sorry. Guess I'm too used to following his orders."

"It's all cool now. We can put it behind us and focus on training for the tournament." I turned back to Chenguang. "We're good now." She blinked once.

* * *

Hey, I'm really struggling with some writers' block :( so I would appreciate some ideas :)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Mei Ying's POV

Keung, Xiang, Feng, Song and I are hanging out in Chenguang's room while she is standing on her stander. Her family tells me she's making small progress every single day, so it makes me happy watching her improve on a daily basis.

I'm currently standing right next to her while Keung sat on the recliner and our three older friends stood around us.

"I hear you have your tournament coming up," I looked at my friends smiling.

"Yeah, it's coming up in a few months," Keung replied, rather a little blandly.

The subject about the tournament sets a rather tense atmosphere because not only was it the reminder of what happened to her afterward, but it was the place where it was the last time we saw and hear her walking and talking.

The first time going back to the tournament a year later, two months after she finally came out of the coma, Keung told me it was one of the hardest night of his life. It was the first time at the tournament without her. Despite the difficulty of the situation, he would spend every spare time he can with her, everyday after school and as much as he could throughout the weekend and summer vacations. He even spends the night in her room every now and then. I have a feeling I know how Chenguang feels whenever Keung takes part in taking care of her as much as he could, such as giving her medications, putting her chapstick on, sometimes even pushing her when she's on the hoyer lift while her aunts takes care of the hard part. She always tell me just how much she likes him, and I would always jokingly tease her with Keung. He's definitely a keeper, as I told her once. I'm certain she'll marry him one day.

I was pulled out from my thoughts as Keung mentioned Cheng feeling remorseful toward his behavior.

"We were here yesterday and I told Cheng that I've been talking to Dre behind his back. At first he got mad at me, but I asked him why he beat him up. He realized that he doesn't really know the reason. I guess Master Li's beliefs is kind of the root of his problem. But he told me that he will try not to beat up anyone else any longer."

"That's good, I'm glad," I nodded my head in approval. "I really don't like seeing my friend making others miserable."

"That's what Keung told him," Song replied.

"From now on, Dre won't have to worry about us," Xiang declared.

"Good," I replied.

We noticed Chenguang is starting to fall asleep.

"Chenguang, do you want to get back in bed?" I asked her and she blinked once.

"Feng," I turned to him, "could you go get one of her aunts and tell her she wants to lay in bed?"

Feng nodded and left the room. Keung quickly got up and wheeled the hoyer lift that was standing in front of her closet across the room and set it next to Chenguang. A few minutes later, Feng came back with Ling. I smiled as I watched Keung do his usual thing. They managed to get the full-body maroon sling with head support between Chenguang's back and the back support of her stander. After they unbuckled her from her stander, still leaving the braces on her legs, they connected the sling to the attachment hook and turned it on. After the hoyer slowly lifted Chenguang up, Keung gently pushed her until she is over her bed. Then they set it down, the hoyer lowering her while Ling positions her on her bed. As she gets settled, Ling wrapped her arms around Chenguang and gently lifted her up while Keung carefully pulled the sling from her.

Ling made sure she is comfortable in that position and she blinked once as Keung hung up the sling and pushing the lift back to the front of her closet.

We talked for awhile before they had to leave for kung fu. Keung kissed her forehead before leaving with them. I stayed with her for a little while before heading back to my house.

As I walked back, I pictured talking to Chenguang while we're walking together. We used to do stuff together all the time and now we couldn't. I remained hopeful that this doesn't last the rest of her life and that she'll be back on her feet.

* * *

The next day after school, I excitedly went to see Chenguang with Keung, Cheng, Liang, and Zhuang. Xing said he has some homework to deal with so he'll come see her when he's not busy.

School always had us warped in assignments so it's not as easy trying to get it out of the way just so we can see Chenguang, who now can't move and talk. Sometimes, I feel like she's somewhat lucky she doesn't have to deal with the overwhelming amount of work. But since she's still school-aged, it makes me even more concerned since she has so much catching up to do because this is the third year she's missing school.

Her parents contacted the school a month after the accident telling them Chenguang might not be able to make it to at least the first day of school because she was still in a coma at the time. Unsure when she might wake up, they assumed she might not be in school for a while. Months later when the school year is about to wrap up, Chenguang had finally came around and was now home and is bound in her wheelchair, along with her trach. She would've been starting senior middle school after choosing either a regular school, vocational or professional school. Figuring she would stick to a regular school, her parents explained the entire situation and told them that Chenguang might not be able to attend their school for a while and gave them a heads up if she attend after she recovered before we graduate. They expressed concerns that she'll fall behind but they reassured them that she will get her GED diploma.

I figured that if she were to get back on her feet and go back to school sometimes this year, maybe she'll have the chance to still graduate with us.

We walked in to Chenguang's room and we saw her laying in bed, accompanied by Mingmei.

Chenguang's POV

I was pretty thrilled as I saw my friends came over here, as they usually do every single day. These are the people that makes my current life more bearable.

Mei Ying came up to me with a huge smile on her face. Whenever she smiles like that, I can tell she's got something going on she would definitely tell me about.

"So, today, I was talking to Dre and I invited him to the Qi Xi festival tomorrow," she excitedly told me.

I flicked my tongue and close my mouth for a second as she told me this. That was the same feeling I felt when I told her Keung invited me there.

"I still remember you telling me about Keung inviting you and all about the things you both did together," she smiled as she told me.

I usually tell her everything about me and Keung, but our first date at the Qi Xi Festival is one of my favorite memories of us. I found myself constantly thinking about that night. Although it makes me sad that I'm now in this position, it makes me happy that I at least got a chance to be with him while I was still able-bodied.

"Me and Zhilan are going as well," Liang spoke up smiling. It would be their first time going together. They had been dating for a few months.

"Okay, we're gonna need all the details," Zhuang replied teasingly.

Cheng nodded. "Just like when Chenguang and Keung went together."

They all laughed as I flicked my tongue again.

Keung turned to me, asking, "Hey, are you in pain?"

Because I couldn't talk, they had to initiate which I guess you could call a conversation. It usually consists of them asking me if I'm in pain and if I am, they would ask me about specific things such as my trach, my head, my stomach, whether I'm feeling sick, etc. They would also ask me if I'm comfortable and if I'm not, they'd ask if I want to be in my wheelchair, my stander, my bed, or if I want to be repositioned. They would have to narrow down each possible answer until they figured out what I want and/or need. They have to do that all the time, and it can test one's patience but they're still willing to do it if it means I'm at least comfortable in where I'm at now.

There are days whenever they asked me if something hurting me, and I wasn't really comfortable but I wasn't in pain, more like something is bound to happen, and I didn't know how to respond. It's hard because they can't get information from me about what I need or what's bothering me. Communication is really essential and so they taught me to blink once if yes or twice if no, so it's desperate times call for desperate measures.

My thoughts were interrupted when my right arm, which was lying on my side, immediately jerked up. This kind of thing always happens constantly and it wasn't just my arm, it was also my legs and my spine. It's really painful and I would tense up and breathe heavily because it puts a lot of stress on me. The spasms doesn't last that long, but it also takes a while for the pain to subside. Everyone here said it's my muscles spasms and I wasn't surprised when they said it's related to my brain injury.

Keung knew exactly what happened there so he held my left hand with both of his hands. He would always try his best to make the situation a little easier. No matter how small it is, it still satisfies me that he was always there for me, even when it gets too hard.

* * *

I haven't updated in a while because I got really busy with school. But now my semester ends in less than two weeks so now I would have more time to write :)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Keung's POV

It's Saturday and tonight is the Qi Xi Festival. Instead of going out, I'm spending the whole day with Chenguang.

I hadn't been to the Qi Xi Festival since 3 years ago when we went together. We only went together once, but it was the perfect night. Due to her brain injury, she was unable to go out, not to mention there are a lot of people there. Hopefully, she'll be able to go again someday.

So for the past 2 years, instead of going out, I would sit down with her all day and just talk to her. Which is completely fine with me. There's no other girl in the world I would spend quality time with other than Chenguang. Besides, there's always next year.

I'm sitting next to Chenguang who was accompanied by Mingmei, who had earlier inserted the feeding tube into her stomach and I gave her medication through it. After I was done, she flicked her tongue out repeatedly, closing and opening her mouth, signaling that she warmed up to what I'm doing, in addition to her eyes, which are relaxed. It could also be a sign that she's trying to smile at me.

I gently took her hand gently and stroked my thumb against it. Her hands are usually in fists so they have the restraint tied around each hand to keep them from contracting into fists. Some days she doesn't have them on, depending on whether her fists are slightly let go.

I remember three years ago when Xing pushed me to ask her out. I was still nervous, even though we've met like several months before. Xing did kind of helped when he told me that he saw the way she looked at me. In fact, I even caught her staring at me that one time. So that eased my nerves.

Flashback

_I was hanging out with Xing in my room doing our homework assignment for our history class. We were discussing the Zhou dynasty when he brought up the topic._

_"You know... the Qi Xi Festival is tomorrow. Maybe you should ask Chenguang to go with you," he suggested with a wide grin on his face._

_I blushed hard and stammered, "Uh, w-well…"_

_Xing rolled his eyes. "Dude, come on. You gotta work up the nerves. It's either now or never. Besides, I've seen the way she looks at you."_

_I looked at him with a half non-believing, half hopeful expression on my face. "Really?"_

_"Yes, dude. You both were talking like there ain't no one else in the world."_

_I thought for a moment. "Well… I had caught her staring at me once. I mean, who stares at their friend like that? It had to be something more."_

"_Well, there you go! Come on now, don't be a wuss. I understand that you really don't talk to girls that much before Chenguang came along, but you better ask her before someone else does."_

_I shrugged with my arms out and said, "Okay, I'll do it." I am not going to let any guy have her for the night._

Present

It took all of my might to gather my courage to ask her. I tried not to focus on the negative when I did. I was relieved and thrilled when she agreed to go out with me.

Flashback

_We met again and my brain lacked function when I saw her. She was clad in a yellow traditional Chinese qipao that went down on the bottom of her knees. Her brown hair is in a low bun and her bangs are pushed to her right side. She went all out while I'm wearing a simple attire; brown polo shirt and blue jeans. I held out my hand and she gladly took mine in hers._

_We slowly walked around, our hands never leaving each other once. As 7:00 came, we went to the Shadow Theater. During the performance, I turned to her and quickly kissed her cheek before turning away blushing. I grinned ear to ear as she held my hand tighter._

_When we walked back to her house a few hours later, she told me she had plenty of fun. In response, I gently took her face in my hands and placed a soft kiss to her lips. After a moment, she relaxed into me, bringing her hands up to my shoulders._

_After a few moments we whispered goodbye to each other. After we parted for the night, I grinned ear to ear as I reflected on what I just did._

Present

I smiled and blushed deeply as I recalled that night. I owed it to Xing after encouraging me to muster up the courage.

"When we were riding the bus to the Forbidden City, I told Xing that he needs to get a date tonight," I said to her. "So, like he encouraged me to go out with you, I did the same with him. I wonder how that guy's doing, though. He'll probably tell me by the end of the night."

Chenguang's POV

I was happy that Xing finally got himself a girl. Keung would always tell me that he needs to get out there and meet some girls.

Keung's phone went off and he checked it.

"Xing texted me. He told me that his date is this girl named Yunru. He has his eyes on her for a while." He looked up at me. "Hopefully his night goes well."

I hope so too. I always wanted the best for my friends.

Keung's POV

I texted back "have fun" before putting my phone away. I rested my head on my hand. Sometimes, it's kind of hard to interact with Chenguang in this state. I can only do the talking while she just sits there. I can only tell her about my day, what me and the gang did and even those times whenever I'm feeling sensitive and emotional about the situation. That's the best I could do. I never get to hear her answers, opinions, advices, or even sometimes jokes. Thankfully she can respond, but only to yes-or-no questions. Other times, I kind of feel guilty every time I had fun with my friends or if we did cool stuff, because she didn't get to experience it. But I am hopeful that she'll come out of this state sometime soon.

Other than Chenguang knowing whenever I get emotional, only my parents and Mei Ying knows. Although the gang knows it too because we talked about it every once in a while. She's one of our very few female friends and the only one really close to us.

Later on, I asked her if she wants to go to the living room and watch a cool action movie and she blinked once, meaning she'd like that. Her mom wheeled her to the living room and had her settled next to me by the sofa. Even though we have our moments together without any interaction, the quality of it is priceless.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Dre's POV

Today's training with Mr. Han wasn't what I was really expecting. It's something I was hoping for in the first place but I wasn't expecting him to make me put on my jacket and take off my jacket over and over again for the past couple weeks. Today, I got fed up and I yelled at him, and I was about to leave but he made me come to him. He told me to put my jacket on, and I protested but he persisted. So as I did that, he gripped my arms and before I knew it, we did our first kung fu fight.

Well, that was something. Sure beats putting on and taking off my jacket a thousand times.

As I walked back to my house, I saw that I received a text from Keung about five minutes ago.

Keung: Hey, I'm thinking when you're done with your kung fu practice, you can come visit Chenguang. I figured you can now that you're on good terms with my friends.

Oh wow, I finally get to meet her. I only saw her once at the park on my first day here, and Keung told me a lot about her. I never saw her close up though, but I remember that she's in a wheelchair and she has a trach in her neck. I gotta be honest, the way Keung told me, they have a long struggle with trying to keep her health in tip-top shape, even though she can't talk or move.

I replied, "Sure, let me get back to my apartment real quick and I'll see you."

Keung: Do you happen to live in Beverly Hills apartment?

Me: Yes, why?

Keung gave me directions and it's actually not that far from the park. I was surprised to see that Chenguang doesn't live that far from me either.

I head back to my apartment and quickly showered and changed.

"**Bye mom, I'll see you later!"** I yelled out.

"**Hey, now, where are you going this time?"** My mom came out, holding a laundry basket.

"**I'm gonna go visit Chenguang at her house for the first time,"** I replied.

"**Oh yes, the girl you told me about. Okay, I see you later. I love you, baby!"**

"**Love you, too,"** and I closed the door.

I rushed downstairs and walked down the street to her house. Her place is huge, and the double door is huge.

I texted Keung, "I'm here." I waited for like a minute before the door opened, revealing Keung.

"**Hey, Dre, come in,"** I came in and we walked through some more doorways as I looked around.

"**Dammmn, this is a big house!"** I exclaimed as I observed my surroundings.

"**I know,"** Keung laughed.

We made it to Chenguang's room and I saw her in her bed with I assume her parents by her side. I looked around her room and it wasn't your typical bedroom. She has like a bunch of medical stuff, some devices, and even her wheelchair sitting next to her big closet.

I slowly walked up to her. I never saw anybody in this condition so I don't really understand how to talk to her. But Keung told me that she can understand what's going on around her and she knows I'm coming to visit her so therefore, she'll understand me when I talk to her since she knows English.

Her parents turned to us and smiled as they saw us. "**Oh, hello there. You must be Dre. I'm Suyin. I'm Chenguang's mother and this is my husband Tzi."**

"**Hello,"** her father held out his hand and I shook it, and I did the same with her mother. They seem like really nice people.

"**Well, I'll leave you kids for a few. We'll be back,"** her father said before they left the room, but not before patting her shoulders.

I walked towards Chenguang. "**Chenguang, this is my friend Dre, the one I've been telling you about,"** Keung then turned to me. "**Dre, say hi to Chenguang."**

"**Hey,"** I nodded to her.

Keung's POV

She blinked once and flicked her tongue in response.

I turned to Dre. "**She says hello to you too. Tell her a little about you."**

"**Okay,"** he turned back to her. "**I moved here a few weeks ago. It's cool here. Um, I'm training for the kung fu tournament that's coming up in a couple months."**

Chenguang's POV

I'm so glad I finally got to meet the guy Keung's been telling me about. He seems like an adorable kid, I can definitely see why Mei Ying likes him. It also just occurred to me that he's the same kid that she kissed at the festival. I was pretty happy when she told me earlier about that moment. It definitely reminded me when me and Keung went.

Just as Dre was staring down at me curiously, my right arm jerked up. I mentally rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. I hate it when it always happens. I understand the impact done to my brain that explains why my arms and legs flinch up like that a lot of the time, but it's really painful and it annoys me to no end.

Dre got startled at this and he seems confused.

"**That's her muscle spasms. It happens all the time,"** Keung said as he rubbed my arm, trying to ease the pain. I really enjoyed it when he does that. It's not to say I didn't want the others to do that for me because it really does hurt because of the tension, and I definitely need the natural remedy, but I like it when Keung does it the most.

Dre looks surprised and watched impressively as Keung does his thing.

"**Wow, you really know how to handle this, huh?"**

Keung nodded. "**Yeah, I guess you can say that. You know, I was the same way during her early days of being like this. We found out that she was unable to walk and talk and all of us didn't really understand. We didn't know how to interact with her at first. I just stared at her, trying to take it all in. Especially with the trach. It was all very new to us. But we were told that she can comprehend the situation around her and she knew what had happened to her. And as time went by, we were trying to get used to it and we understood a little more now."**

Keung's POV

Dre nodded. I really look forward to the day when Chenguang is finally able to speak to Dre for the first time.

I continue to tell him that even though the situation gets hard sometimes, I still put up with it if it means that I get to be with her. When it first happened, I made sure to stay with her.

When we first found out what happened to her after the tournament three years ago, we initially thought it was just a head injury and she'll be in a coma for a little while and she'll experience some migraines after coming around before getting back to normal soon, as said by Zhuang, but later on we found it it's actually something worse. Due to the extreme damage to her brain, she was unconscious for nearly a year and is incapable of talking and moving, along with being assisted to breathe with her trach. It really stung knowing that and seeing her like this. But it didn't stop me from seeing her every single day. I helped take care of her to save her aunts the trouble because not only do I have to, but I want to.

Growing up, I was taught by my parents to always help someone in need and that it would be selfish of me not to. When I learned it, I never thought I'd see the day when I'm helping my girlfriend while she's in such condition. It gets really hard, especially when her health is more delicate these days and gets sick every now and then, opposed to when it's highly rare she gets sick prior to her injury. My mood usually depends on hers. If she's having a good day, then so am I. If she's feeling under the weather or if she got an infection by her trach area, then the day is not my day.

"**I… um,"** Dre began, scratching the back of his neck. "**Wow. I don't really know what to say."**

"**Yeah. I get it, though,"** I nodded, then turned back to look at her. She appears to be falling asleep. "**She gets tired very easy. She is currently in minimally conscious state. It means that severely altered consciousness is minimal but definite, sustained and reproducible behavioral evidence of awareness of self or environment is demonstrated."**

Dre nodded again. "**Do you guys take her out to the park sometimes?"**

I shook my head. "**It's actually not often that we take her out. She's been over there only a couple times in the past two years. Of course, she does enjoy the park, but we didn't really want to take her out that often because she's away from here and there's a lot of people out there. And you know, we get a little nervous because there might be certain people out there who… you know."** I cannot bring myself to say it.

It seems like Dre understood. "**Yeah, I get that."**

I looked back at her and I saw that she fell asleep. I stroked her head a little bit.

"**Hey, I'm just wondering. Um… how did you find out about what happened to her?"**

"**Well, it was actually after the tournament when it happened. But we didn't know until the next morning. Long story short, she never showed up to the park with us and later on we ended up finding out from Mei Ying's parents about what had happened to her."** I replied. I didn't want to tell him the whole story about how she hadn't showed up to the park with me and my friends, how we sent Mei Ying to her house to check in on her, before we eventually found out from her parents that she was… you know. And I certainly didn't want to tell it in front of her. The memory of it is too painful.

In fact, I always told everyone that whenever they're around Chenguang, to be careful with what they say because I don't want anyone to say certain things and she'll ended up wondering and it might get to her, and it makes it worse when she has no control into trying to tell us what's on her mind. That's why I don't tell her too much whenever I get sad because I don't want her to worry.

* * *

Later on that night, I laid down in bed and I replayed the memory in my head when we first found out what happened to her. We were 12-13 years old at the time.

Flashback

_Third Person (July 24, 2006)_

_Keung woke up and the first thing he did was check his phone. 7:36am. They agreed to meet at the park today to hang out and play basketball. He pulled up the message feature and texted Chenguang._

_Keung: Hey, I'll see you soon :)_

_He placed his hands behind his head as he remembers the event the night before. It was the next morning after the tournament. Of course, the Fighting Dragons team won. Keung wasn't surprised because they've won every year. He doesn't recall the Fighting Dragons losing to another team._

_Keung then got up to eat breakfast with his parents. After he was done, he put away the dishes and went back to his room. Expecting to see Chenguang's reply, he checked his phone. No notifications yet. He stared in confusion. Usually she would always reply. This time, she hasn't._

"I sent that half an hour ago. Maybe her phone's dead," _Keung thought._

"Hopefully I'll see her in a minute at the park," _he thought as he readied himself and left._

_He doesn't live too far from the park, but he doesn't mind the walk. It gives him a peace of mind._

_Keung made it to the park and saw his friends Cheng, Liang, Zhuang, and Xing, with Cheng holding a basketball. He was surprised to see that Chenguang wasn't with them. He looked back and around the park, expecting to see her, but she didn't appear to be in sight anywhere. Strange. She would be here by now._

"Okay, stop it. You're overthinking things. She's probably running late," _he reassured himself. But something didn't seem right._

"_Hey, guys. Chenguang not here yet?" Keung asked._

_They shook their heads no._

"_Nope, not yet," said then 13 years old Cheng as he mindlessly bounces the ball._

"_Hm. Has she ever texted you at all this morning?" Keung asked again, and his question was met with the same response._

"_Huh," he looked around again, hoping to see her, but she seems to be nowhere in sight._

"_Why, what's the matter?" asked Liang curiously._

"_I don't know. I texted her about an hour ago," Keung pulled out his phone to see if she texted back yet. Still no new messages. "And she still haven't responded yet."_

"_Well, maybe she's running late with a dead phone," said Zhuang._

"_That's exactly what I'm thinking." Keung looked around once again, this time his hope diminishing that he sees her walking towards the gang. Predictably, she still wasn't there._

"_Oh well. She'll show up soon enough," Xing assures him. "There's no way she'd ditch us."_

"_You're right."_

_They got onto talking about stuff; tournament, summer break, kung fu, etc. Several minutes passed and still no sign of his girlfriend of a few months._

"_Dang, where is she? She should've been here 10 minutes ago." Now Keung is getting concerned._

"_Yeah, something's not right," Cheng concluded._

"_Yeah, I don't feel like playing basketball without Chenguang," Zhuang added._

"_Hey, doesn't Mei Ying lives right next to Chenguang?" Liang asked._

"_Yeah, she does," Keung nodded. I pulled out my phone to text Mei Ying._

_Keung: Hey, can you check in on Chenguang? She hasn't shown up to the park yet and we're concerned :(_

_A minute later, she replied, "Okay."_

_Mei Ying then left the house to check in on Chenguang. She made it to the doorway and knocked several times, before stopping to listen for any footsteps. None. She knocked again. Still no response. Confused and worried, Mei Ying checked the driveway. The car wasn't there either._

"Well, this is odd," _she thought. First, Keung said she hasn't showed up yet to the park, and now the car isn't to be seen. At first sight, it looks that Chenguang and her parents had left somewhere. But since Chenguang hadn't texted Keung, nor had she met up with her friends, it seems like her parents vanished too._

_Pulling out her phone, Mei Ying texted, "This is weird. Her parents and the car aren't there either."_

_Keung looked back at the text and became surprised at the response._

"_Guys, Mei Ying said that nobody is home."_

_A look of surprise came across their faces._

"_Well, this is weird. How come she and her parents aren't home?" Cheng asked._

"_She did agree to meet with us today," said Liang. "She would've said something if something else came up."_

"_That's true. It isn't like her to just… vanish out of the blue," Zhuang added._

"_Well, there has to be a reason why Chenguang is nowhere to be seen," said Xing._

_Just then, Keung phone beeped again and felt nervous when he read the next text._

_Mei Ying: Keung, I need you to come to my house right now. My parents just found out about why Chenguang didn't meet with you._

_He gulped as he put his phone away._

"_What's the matter?" asked Cheng._

"_I… I gotta go. See you," and with that, Keung ran off._

"_Wait…" Cheng tried to stop him, but he was already out of earshot. He looked back at his friends, unsure what to do._

"_Do you guys want to go back to my house? I don't feel like hanging out here," Cheng suggested._

"_Yeah, let's head back," Zhuang agreed._

Present

I sighed as I recalled the memory when we first found out. I can't believe it's been almost three years ago. It's been so long without her. Even though we're still physically close, as I came to see her nearly every single day, I felt like we're somewhat distant emotionally. Besides her limited communication signals, Chenguang hadn't been able to give us a legitimate response about anything, what's bothering her, or if she just wants to talk.

Ever since then, I've been feeling kind of lonely. I'm happy that she's still here with us, but with me continuing my life while she's stuck at home, unable to walk, talk and to provide specific information on her own about her wants and needs, it sucks. I would get depressed sometimes because it's not easy knowing that she is incapable of doing anything herself.

It takes a lot of energy to gain strength whenever I'm feeling down about this. But like I said earlier, whenever Chenguang is in a good mood and not in pain, then it's a good day for me too.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Keung's POV

Today, my parents decided to come over and visit Chenguang. They would come and see her every once in a while. They actually saw her in person like once at the tournament right before she had a brain injury, but they told me that they like her and she seems like a really nice person. I couldn't agree more.

As my mom sat beside her and talking to her about what's going on in our lives, I looked at the pictures hanging on the wall on Chenguang's right. I do that sometimes to reflect the memories that we had together before. I stared at one picture hanging on the wall, possibly my favorite one. It's a photo of Chenguang in her black Fighting Dragons uniform doing a kung fu stance. It's strange and sad to think that the girl I asked to go with me to the Qi Xi festival and eventually became my girlfriend is now disabled as a result of what happened that night.

I went back to Chenguang's side and I saw as her mom watched in admiration of my parents talking to her.

Third Person

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang, may I talk to you in the living room?" Chenguang's mother asked.

They both nodded. "Yes, sure." Suyin brought his parents over to the main room.

Suyin cleared her throat and placed her hands together. "Your son Keung is such a good boy. Being personally interested in her well-being, he visits her every day and even helps us take care of her whenever he can. And that's definitely a lot for someone his age." Keung's parents nodded.

"Yes, and I'm proud of him for that," Keung's mother replied. "But there are some hard days too when simply seeing her seems like a difficult task. But we reminded him that it's the thought that counts and simply seeing her made things easier for not only Chenguang, but you and your family as well."

Suyin hugged them tightly.

"My boy loves her very much," Keung's father added.

"I know he does," Suyin whispered.

As they let each other go, Keung's mother spoke up again.

"The way I see it, I believe he will stay with her for as long as they live."

Suyin smiled and nodded. "He definitely will."

They walked back to the room and see Keung talking to her and at one point asked her if she can lift her right arm. With much effort, she was able to lift her forearm like 2 inches up. He has a big smile on his face, knowing that she does have a very limited mobility, depending on whether she's alert or not.

Suyin rubbed the top of her head as she thought about despite the struggle, her daughter is still hanging in there and manages to get through whatever gets in her way. She feels satisfied that her only child is resilient to get through whatever illnesses she struggled with to even try to get to the point where she can start the process of relearning her basic abilities, before she can rebuild her kung fu skills.

* * *

Keung's POV

_The next day_

As I'm sitting next to Chenguang, I received a text from Dre saying that he had fun at the Wudang mountain and he told me that the water tastes so good. I couldn't agree more, after walking up all those stairs.

It's kind of a bad day for me because Chenguang wasn't feeling well this morning. She has an allergy, so Mingmei and Ling gave her this humid machine while she has the oxygen mask around her face and is wearing a purple life jacket. She is sleeping right now.

Cheng, Liang, Zhuang, and Xing are here with me. I like it when we all get together and just hang out. We couldn't have every single person in our group at once because there's so many people and we don't want to overwhelm her.

"Hey, how are Chenguang's old friends are doing? I haven't heard of them in a while," Liang asked me.

"Oh yeah, I should talk to them and tell them how's Chenguang is doing."

I pulled out my phone and I scrolled down the list until I see a group chat under Mingzhu, Jinhua and Huian. We had exchanged our numbers after they visited her for the first time since she left Shanghai.

Me: Hey guys. Sorry I haven't updated you in awhile. We had been busy with everything. Chenguang is sick, she has an allergy and is sleeping right now. Her aunts gave her this oxygen machine and put the mask on her.

Mingzhu: Again? I feel like she's been sick a lot. :(

Me: I know :( Ever since that night happened that she hasn't been able to do Kung Fu, she's becoming more prone to illness and infections if we aren't careful. But other than that, she's doing well.

Mingzhu: It sucks she had to go through it.

Huian: I know, it really does. I still clearly remember that day when Keung told me what had happened to her.

Jinhua: Yes it was real sad. I can't believe it's been almost 3 years :(

Me: She'll be back to her old self soon, I hope.

I put my phone away and looked back at her. I stroked at her head softly as I thought about the person who is responsible for the accident. Her parents never really saw him because he never associated with them. Maybe he felt guilty about the injury that he caused, especially to Chenguang. We don't know what happened to him afterward. But the investigators said that there was no ill will from him and that he never intended to harm anyone. I honestly wish I could talk to him and for him to really sees the result of what happened. But at the same time, I didn't really want to because I still kind of hold grudges against because he was the reason that Chenguang is immobilized and is suffering.

I was snapped back into reality when Cheng said suddenly. "What's on your mind, Keung?"

"I'm just thinking about the guy who is responsible for what happened." I then shrugged. "I don't really know, it's just that have mixed feelings about him."

"Really?" Zhuang asked.

"Yeah. I'm angry that this happened because now Chenguang is suffering, but at the same time, I kind of understand that he felt guilty about it," I replied.

"Maybe it'll change once Chenguang gets better," Xing pointed out.

I nodded. "I guess you're right." True, I may be bitter towards him, but I have a feeling that once Chenguang regains her independence and her kung fu skills, my view towards him will alter.

* * *

Third Person

The next day at school, the gang are sitting at their usual lunch table.

Keung sat down and rest his head on his hand, fiddling with his chopsticks, not bothered enough to eat his lunch.

Noticing the grim look on Keung's face, Cheng asked concernedly. "What's the matter?"

Keung sighed. "It's just not my day."

Cheng knew Keung more than enough to know that Chenguang's condition places such feelings on him, considering that she's his girlfriend. Chenguang had been sick the day before and had to use an oxygen tank to help with her allergy. And it certainly didn't help that she has to wear her purple life jacket. She wears them to keep her back straight every now and then. It pains him that the accident after the tournament resulted her in a completely different appearance. Even though he still loves and appreciates her, he has those days where he wants everything to slow down a little bit. Cheng advises Keung to continue with his meditation in kung fu to take his mind off of it. And it helped.

"It'll be alright," Liang assured him.

"Tomorrow is gonna be a better day," Zhuang added.

"Yeah, try to take solace from the fact that she gets happy that we see her every day," Xing replied, the statement that was met with nods by the gang.

"I second that," Zhilan agreed.

"Thanks, guys. You have no idea how much it means to me, Chenguang and her family," Keung smiled.

Xiang patted his shoulder. "Anytime, little dude."

Keung smiled widely. His friends have been such a great support system for him in the past three years following that night. He feels it in his heart that Chenguang will be back on her feet and be able to walk and talk again. It's something that really gets him through it.

"_Someday,"_ Keung thought with a hopeful expression, "_she'll be back to the old Chenguang we know."_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chenguang's POV

_A week later_

"You're not tired?" Ling asked me. I blinked twice; no. She asked me if there is something in my body bothering me, which I gave her the same response. Finally, she asked if I want to stay in my wheelchair, this time I blinked once for yes.

It was nighttime and I'm relaxing in my wheelchair watching action movies in the living room with Ling sitting next to me in a reasonable volume with subtitles.

They both take turns supervising me, so whenever Ling gets tired, Mingmei takes over her place to watch me and I'm just up until I get tired myself.

I'm usually up most of the night oftentimes, so they would stay up with me in case I need something and they don't want to fall asleep while something's bothering me. Not to mention that I can't do anything for myself so basically whenever I'm asleep, it's their off-duty.

A few hours later, I checked the time on the player under the tv and I saw it's only 11pm. Mingmei came into the room and Ling left to go to sleep. It wasn't until about an hour later that fatigue starts to take over me and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

I woke up several hours later as they're changing my clothes for the day, moved me into my wheelchair and fed me through the tube in my stomach.

My daily basis usually consists of just me sitting in my chair and either watching movies or just sleeping throughout the day, aside from everyday routine. Whenever I'm alert, they give me physical therapy on every other day. Unless I have an appointment or get sick and spend some days in the hospital, it's usually uneventful. But the best part of my day is when I get to see my friends between after school and before their kung fu practice starts, which is everyday, especially Keung.

I fell asleep again a couple hours later and I woke up at around 1pm, just a couple hours away before I see my friends.

* * *

Keung's POV

I walked into my history class and took my seat as everyone else did, with the exception of Dre. He must be running late.

20 minutes into class, and Dre still haven't shown up. He hadn't missed a day in class ever since he came here, except for that one time when he got sick. I shrugged it off, as I'm sure he'll tell me about it though.

* * *

When I arrived to Chenguang's room by myself after school ended, I saw her wide awake in her chair. It's not that often she's alert since she gets tired very easily.

"Hey, how's she doing?" I asked as I sat on her beside.

"She's good, she was just up all night and slept for about four hours today. That girl can sleep the day away," Ling replied.

"I agree," I laughed. "But I'm glad she's awake whenever I see her most of the time. Also, I'm just gonna be here for a few minutes because I'm gonna go see Mei Ying at her audition."

"Oh, that's nice. I hope she gets in," she replied.

I started talking to Chenguang, then I brought up Dre and Mei Ying.

"Hey, Chenguang, I haven't seen both Dre and Mei Ying in class today. It's kinda weird that they both haven't been to school today, especially because I saw them this morning before school started."

She raised her eyebrows in apparent surprise.

I scratched the back of my head. "I'm not exactly sure about Dre, but Mei Ying never skips school, as you may know that."

"They didn't go to school today?" Ling asked, her eyebrows raised.

I shook my head no.

After a few seconds, Ling spoke up. "I think they both may have skipped school today. I'm not exactly sure, but it's a possibility."

I thought for a moment, then said, "I think you might be right. But I'm hoping Mei Ying at least makes it to her audition."

"Me too," Ling replied.

* * *

I walked over to the front of the school to meet with my friends.

"Hey guys," I high fived them.

"I'm worried for Mei Ying. She didn't come to class today. She needs to come to the audition if she wants to get into Beijing Academy of Music," Cheng said concernedly.

"Yeah, she practiced all the time for it and it would be a waste of hard work if she doesn't make it," Zhuang agreed.

"Let's just hope she at least show up," I said as we walked into the auditorium.

Taking our seats near the front, we continuously glanced at the door behind us to see if she's coming in.

We waited for a while before we saw her and her parents rushing in. My friends and I looked at each other in confusion and I whispered, "Why she's still in her uniform?" We shrugged and she went up to the stage and started playing.

After she was finished, we heard a sudden noise. I turned to the source and I saw Dre sitting in the back, right behind Mei Ying's teacher. Apparently, he seems pretty embarrassed since no one else was clapping.

After she stepped down from the stage, I noticed them exchanging some kind of hand gesture that consists of them sticking out their pinky finger at each other. Probably a secret code they came up with or something. Then I saw her father whispered something in her ear and her face fell. I became curious as to what he said that seemingly made her upset.

They walked over to Dre and we subtly followed suit. They talked for a moment and ended in a sad note as they walked away, leaving Dre alone.

As we walked to him, I asked, **"What happened?"**

**"She said she can't see me anymore because I made her skip school,"** he replied sadly.

**"Well, it's nice of you to keep her mind off of her worries but you shouldn't make her skip school,"** I pointed out, receiving a nod as a response.

**"I know,"** he replied.

I patted his shoulder. **"I'll see you at the tournament."** He nodded and we left.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Keung's POV

I walked over to my girlfriend's house and as I head over to the premises, I noticed the handicapped accessible van wasn't there. So that means she isn't home. Maybe she has one of those doctor appointments. I knocked on the door and was greeted by Ling as I walked in.

"Hi, Ling, what's the word?"

"It's not good, Keung. Mingmei and Suyin took Chenguang to the hospital. She was overheating badly this morning so we tried to cool her down, but she cooled down too much. She went into a hypothermic state and her heart rate dropped down to 35 BPM. But we didn't really know what's wrong with her, if there was an infection or not. But we believe she has been suffering from seizures that we have been dismissed as muscle spasms for a while now. Suyin is worried out of her mind so Mingmei is doing her best to keep her together."

I was shocked. It wasn't the muscle spasms she was having, it was her seizure. I always knew these kind of problems happens when something goes wrong in the brain. For some reason, it had never crossed my mind it could happen to her and we didn't even know it. My heart started racing with anxiety.

"Relax, Keung, she'll be fine," Ling assured me, placing her hand over my shoulder as we walked to the main hallway. She knows about my anxiety problems with the situation regarding Chenguang. She would always have to assure me to calm me down every time I'm having a panic attack. I took deep breaths before speaking.

"So, when do you think they'll be coming home?" I asked. I really wanted to see her to see if she's doing okay now.

"I'm not sure, but Suyin or Mingmei are going to call me if they have received any more information. All I got so far is that when she's seizing, she stiffens like a plank and she does that huffing thing with her breathing." I nodded in understanding. She went to Chenguang's room, probably to take care of things. I pulled out my phone and I decided to contact my friends in group chat.

Me: Hey guys. I just found out that Chenguang had been having seizures that we mistakenly thought were muscle spasms. She was also heating up this morning so we tried to cool her down. She ended up going into a hypothermic state and her heart rate went down to 35 BPM.

Cheng: What?! How did we not know...?

Keung: Well, it wasn't our fault since we're not doctors. Her mom and Mingmei are with her at the hospital. I am not sure when she'll be back.

Liang: We understand that we can't change the past but we can move forward now that we know that it was her seizures that she had been having for a while.

Xing: I agree with Liang.

Keung: But wait... what if she still has that problem even after she recovered?

Zhuang: Even if she still has it, my mom told me she has a friend who has seizure problems. She started having them when she was 12, it would come out quite severe. But when she got older, it became less obvious. She said that seizures are hard to tell sometimes. And with people who have brain injury, it's difficult to tell whether she's comfortable or not.

Keung: Are there any treatments to help the seizures?

Zhuang: Yes, but the side effects are complicated, making it harder than it had to be. :(

I sighed, putting my phone in my pocket. I went to her room and sat down on the recliner that I always sleep in whenever I'm spending the night with her. I sighed again heavily as I rested my head on my hand.

Ling noticed my distress. "I know it's difficult, but we'll find a way."

I didn't answer when Ling's phone rang. She answered and talked for several minutes before hanging up.

"Mingmei called me and they said that she might be there for a while so I hope all goes well. I also asked for the treatment for her seizures and the doctor said that there is a really good treatment with no side effects. It's called medical cannabis, it's this medical marijuana that treats seizures. But one problem. It's not legal here in China." I tossed my head back and groaned in frustration.

"I know, but she'll have to go to the States in order to receive them."

I sighed heavily and shrugged. "Okay then." I hate not seeing her but if she had to go to the States to get what she needs, then it's no problem for me. I'm sure she would do the same for me. Sometimes I think that if she would end up being in that position for the rest of her life, then I'm going to be the one taking over the role Mingmei and Ling have to be taking care of her for the past 2 years. But there's a chance it may not be permanent, so I'm glad to know that.

I pulled out my phone and texted Dre of the situation we're in. I didn't immediately get a reply so I assumed he's training with Mr. Han.

She ended up returning home six days later. I was happy to see her back to normal. But I still don't exactly feel satisfied because we noticed she's getting sick a lot lately and as each day passes, I became increasingly concerned for her delicate health. I'm afraid that if this keeps up, I'm not exactly sure how much longer Chenguang can take. I really hope she's well enough to start her recovery process.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Keung's POV

About a month after Chenguang's seizure episode, she got sick once again with pneumonia. After spending ten days in the hospital, she is now relaxing in her chair, covered in a thin white blanket.

It seems that everything is falling apart just as the tournament nears. From finding out recently that Chenguang has been having seizures the whole time to currently recovering from pneumonia after more than a week. It is very worrisome. I never thought I'd see the day I'm panicking over her declining health, especially while she still can't talk or move. It's those setbacks that had me worrying. Because of her brain injury, her body doesn't work the same way as opposed to the usual functioning body. If she gets a minor virus, it causes a lot of complications for her.

The tournament only adds up to my stress.

"I know it's very stressful now, but right now we can hope Chenguang gets much better and move as she can," Ling said.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Never thought I'd see the day I'd find myself in this situation."

"None of us did. But the important thing is that we're doing everything we should do for her as we hope." She looked at Chenguang. "Isn't that right?" Chenguang blinked once as Ling rubbed her head, then looked back up at me.

"The tournament is tomorrow, right?" I nodded.

"I'm pretty sure we're gonna win like it's nothing, like we do every year," I shrugged my shoulders.

"You did say that Dre is participating too, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded in response. "It is his first time in a tournament ever."

"Maybe he might win this year. Who knows?" Ling shrugged. I returned the response.

* * *

The next day, the gang and I decided to see her before we head off to the tournament, as we did the last two years. It felt a little tense as the third anniversary of the accident is in a few days.

They cut Chenguang's hair short so that she won't be feeling like she's pulling it when she turns her head. When it grows a few inches down to her chest, they cut it until her hair is up to her chin. Not to mention it's less time-consuming because they're already putting in so much effort taking care of her, so they have less to worry about when it comes to her hair.

"Alright guys, good luck with your tournament and be safe. Some of them might be rough," Suyin said.

"I appreciate the concerns, Mrs. Wu, but the referees usually make sure none of us goes to the extreme," I replied.

She smiled and patted my arms. "We will see you tomorrow."

"Good luck tonight, kids," Her father said as I kissed Chenguang's head.

"I'll see you tomorrow, love you," I rubbed her arms a bit before we left.

"See ya, Chenguang," my friends said simultaneously.

* * *

"Well. Third tournament without Chenguang," I said to Cheng as we walked into the arena, where people are taking their seats.

"I know," Cheng assured me while rubbing my back comfortingly.

We found ourselves standing in the straight line while we waited for the competition to start.

The light came on and the screen turned on. "Let the tournament begin!" The announcer exclaimed excitedly and was met with a lot of cheers.

As I watched Cheng fighting with a boy in a brown suit, I noticed white from the corner of my eyes. I turned my gaze and saw Dre and Mr. Han. He is kind of far away so I don't think he noticed me. We clapped for Cheng when he beat the boy, of course. I don't think he's even been beaten before. As a result, Master Li valued him greatly as his best student.

I am proud after I saw Dre had beat that boy, though I can't show it, for Master Li's sake. I noticed Dre stepped away the first two times after he stepped on that mat for the very first time. If Cheng was rude as before, he most likely would've laughed. I'm glad he and Dre got along now.

Later on, we are sitting cross-legged watching Liang fighting a boy from Wu Ping's team. I cringed in disgust as I remembered he participated in saying such disgraceful comments about her. I fought hard to not jump up from my spot and beat the crap out of that guy. I relaxed myself when I saw Liang doing his work and trapping him with his legs. Though Master Li wanted us to go hard on our opponents, we all still made sure we go hard—but not too hard for us to get disqualified—on every member on Wu Ping's team.

We cheered for Cheng when he beat another boy in brown—as always—giving him high fives.

I rolled my eyes when I watched Wu Ping beat a boy in orange shirt and brown pants, as well as him spiking up his hair every time he gets ready to fight. As they competed, I remember Chenguang's last fight she had succeeded was with another boy, Guo, on that team and because of that, every time I looked at that team, especially Guo, I still think of her.

I watched as Cheng quickly took down a boy in a brown suit. At the next round, he ended it with hitting that guy in the face twice. His master and one of his teammates had to escort him to the infirmary due to the injury Cheng had given them. Sometimes, I think that guy just needs to chill.

My friend Zhu, the slim boy with tanned skin and buzz cut, was up next fighting Wu Ping. Since he wasn't as good as Cheng, I bit my lip and furrowed my brow in nervousness as I determine who may be the winner at this point. I sighed and mused about how I should've known when Zhu was knocked down, covering his face.

Zhuang was up next to fight Dre. I kinda have a hunch that Dre will beat him. Beside him stepping away twice, he never lost a point. At least not until he advances with Cheng, if that happens. My prediction was correct when he knocked down Zhuang and with the announcer saying that Dre had advanced to the semi final. I was surprised. I don't think I have ever seen someone experiencing their first time at the tournament have a clean win. That Mr. Han must be a good teacher, and I mean really good.

While we waited for the semifinal, we lifted the red bench that was sitting upside down resting on top of the red bench. We had to wait for like 15 minutes until it started. I went and grabbed some water to keep me alert because I'm starting to get a little tired, although I ended up losing my round at the beginner round. I know, I'm not that good but I can improve. Cheng jokes that I'm an amateur guy from Kung Fu.

As I stood in the break room, I sighed as I remembered the incident from two years ago with Wu Ping. I rolled my eyes from his inconsiderate comments. I was foolish to think he'd have sympathy for us, but he didn't even hesitate to criticize us just because we want her alive.

Wu Ping had made rude and disgusting comments about Chenguang. He said that we are delusional and we're letting her suffer in this condition. He also said that if it happened to him and his family letting him live, he would be angry. We still hadn't told this to Chenguang because we do not want her to be hurt and upset. She's already going through enough struggle not being able to move around, much less talk. Maybe I can tell her when she gets better.

Flashback

_Having been a year since the accident and two months since she came out of a coma, I walked to the break room to get some water. As I was just about to grab a small bottled water, I heard what sounds like Wu Ping's voice in another room._

_"So, Chenguang came out of that coma and she's home with her family, huh?"_

_I paused. I sorta hoped he'd have some sympathy for what happened to her._

_"Yeah," I heard another voice. "I heard she can't walk and talk, though. She has that thing in her neck to help her breathe or something."_

_"It's a tracheotomy," I thought as I continued to listen._

_"If I was in their shoes, I would let her go."_

_I was wrong._

_My heart stopped for a second. I know he did not just say that!_

_"I can't believe that they would let Chenguang live like that! That's not living! They're crazy people!" Wu Ping replied. I gritted my teeth and I didn't notice Cheng was beside me until I looked to my right. He has the same expression on his face._

_I kept clenching my fists and jaws as the rude comments kept piling on, until I couldn't stand it anymore._

_I barged into their conversation and yelled, "Hey! You do not talk about her like that!"_

_Wu Ping turned and saw me. "Oh hey. Glad to see you eavesdropping on my opinion."_

_"You know that's my girlfriend you're talking about?!" I yelled at him again._

_"I know you're with her. But you guys are delusional. I saw her once at the park and we just had to leave as soon as we saw her. The sight was rather sad. I'm not sure if she even wants to live like that."_

_"I can't believe you would say something like that, you freak!" Cheng yelled._

_"Oh, come on, I-" Wu Ping started but I wouldn't let him._

_"Don't even try! We know she wants to live. I can tell in her eyes." I calmed down a little bit. "We even asked if she was glad she lived and if she wants to continue on. She said yes to both questions," I glared at him. Wu Ping scoffed in disbelief._

_"Wu Ping, do you even know the full story behind this?" Cheng asked him._

_"Yes, she was in a car accident last year after leaving the tournament. Brain injury. Was in a coma for like a year."_

_I glanced down on the floor before looking back up at him. "Correct."_

_"You know, I heard people walk out of the victims' lives after going through the same thing she's going through. You should be one of them so you won't have to suffer through the pain." My face went back to red. "It's something I would do."_

_That was the last straw._

_"I would never in a day of my life!" I yelled at the top of his lungs and was about to launch at Wu Ping when I found myself being held back by Cheng. I was a little surprised because usually he's the one that has to stop me because he was always so temperamental._

_"Alright, let's calm down here. They are not worth our time. Let's channel our anger onto the mat," I calmed down before he escorted back to our friends._

_"I am so kicking your ass!" I yelled while glaring at him before turning around to leave. I started taking deep breaths to calm myself down._

_Cheng took me back to the main room while I was still seething from Wu Ping._

_"What happened?" Liang asked with concern as he saw my red face._

_Cheng sat me down and explained what Wu Ping said about her._

_"The nerves! How dare he?!" Zhuang gritted his teeth._

_"He's always been inconsiderate. I can't wait to beat him up," Cheng replied, glaring at Wu Ping's team as he clenches his fists._

Present

A moment later, I looked up at the screen and I saw that there will be two pairs of fighters; Cheng vs. Wu Ping and Liang vs. Dre.

I am pretty excited to see how the fight will go down between Cheng and Wu Ping. I have such high expectations for Cheng, because like I said before, he is such a good fighter. We all watched in satisfaction as Wu Ping, the guy who made ignorant comments about my girlfriend who's suffering so much, got beat three times in a row. As Cheng was announced the winner for the finals, we all got excited and we hugged Cheng like he was the best thing ever.

The announcer began to declare Liang and Dre as the fighters for the semifinal before we reached the final.

As Liang was just about to step up the mat, I saw Master Li stopping him by grabbing his shoulder. He whispered something to him but I can't hear him from here. I doubt it's anything good when Liang insisted he can beat him because I think I heard Master Li said, "I don't want him beaten. I want him broken."

Liang looked terribly nervous when he walked up on the mat and after they bowed in respect, the referee waved his flag and after a moment of silence with them going around in a circle, Liang made the first move.

I'm pretty sure I heard Master Li correctly because now after a moment of fighting, I almost couldn't look when Liang caught his leg and began slamming his elbow hard against it. I had to look away when I saw the look of pain on Dre's face. I glared at Master Li for a second before returning my gaze back to the mat as the referee and Mr. Han rushed to Dre's aid and then ended up being transported to the infirmary. As much as I want to run to Dre's side, I couldn't.

A minute later, Cheng and Master Li stood in the center of the mat with the announcer saying that if Dre wasn't back in two minutes, the Fighting Dragons will win by default. I fiddled my finger nervously and kept looking at the door, waiting for him to come out.

After what seems like forever, just looking at the door, the announcer speaking up snapped me back to reality.

"Since Dre Parker has not returned to the ring..."

I noticed Mr. Han rushing to a table with a few other announcers. He said something and one of the announcers interrupted, stopping the announcer on the mat. He turned and approached him, heard what his coworker had to say, and then returned to the mat with Cheng and Master Li.

"Dre Parker will fight!" The announcer said excitedly, resulting in loud cheers. I smiled when I saw Dre walking to the mat with a determined look on his pained face. How did he manage to heal quickly? That's when I remember that after he got beat up by Cheng in the alleyway, he told me that Mr. Han did this fiery cup thing. He seems to be confused even though he was told it was ancient Chinese healing. He sure found himself a great teacher.

He wobbled onto the ladders and bounced up and down in determination. After the referee waved the flag, the two fought. Despite Cheng being nice to Dre now, he still has to keep an intimidating, stoic face so Master Li wouldn't notice. Cheng won a point after he kicked Dre in the stomach right off the mat and onto the floor. I winced as I saw the pained look on his face. Instead of going around and using the ladders, he hopped right back on the mat.

I watched intently as Dre scored two times in a row after Cheng won the first point. I guess Master Li felt scared that Dre is one point away from winning the tournament, because he called Cheng over. I glanced at Zhu and wondered whatever sinister plan Master Li had in store for him now. He grabbed his face and said in a bitter tone, "I want you... to break his leg!" I noticed Cheng's scared face when he said that. He let go of his face and reminded him of the 'no mercy' rule.

Um, okay. His leg was already harmed because of his previous idea that ended with Liang getting disqualified, why cause more damage?

Cheng hopped onto the mat and posed a stance. I noticed he glanced at Dre's legs to figure out how to damage it. I know he does not want to have to do it, but Master Li won't take refusal kindly. They fought for a second before pausing. I looked up at Master Li and he tilted his head to indicate that Cheng could go on. I prepared myself mentally as I anxiously waited for either Cheng or Dre to make the next move. Cheng charged at Dre and while they're at it, he kicked Dre's left waist and performed the routine where he jumped and spinned into a kick, knocking down Dre. Dre looked to be in pain as he clutched his already tendered leg. I looked at the screen and saw that Cheng earned a second point.

"The score is tied, the next point wins!" The man announced excitedly as we are second away from finding out the winner.

"Come on!" I encouraged Dre, though I want Master Li to think I'm yelling at Cheng. I didn't say his name because I don't want Master Li to know I was showing mercy toward my opponent.

Finally he managed to get up and I had to refrain myself from cheering so I slightly clapped with my fingers, still keeping my arms down. The crowd cheered as well and slowly went silent as Dre lifted his injured leg and his right arm facing away while his left hand is inches away from his chin, facing Cheng. What is it he's doing?

As if in slow motion, the referee waved his flagged and I was startled when Master Li suddenly yelled out, "Finish him!" I shouldn't be surprised, though. Cheng ran at Dre and he rotated, spinning Cheng and kicking him in the face with a backflip! I stared in shock and amazement as the referee lifted Dre's hand, declaring him the winner.

Another amazing thing I saw was when the announcer was just about to award Dre the trophy, Cheng approached him, asking a question that prompted him into giving Cheng the trophy and awarded Dre. Though they are already on good side, I am proud of him. I think he did that to let Master Li know that he is not going to put up with his 'no mercy' rule.

Cheng returned to us with a big smile on his face and we patted him on his arms transmitting our pride for the change of his attitude. I then noticed Master Li approaching us with an angry look on his face.

Panicking, Liang told him, "Cheng, Master Li's coming." Cheng turned around and Master Li, face to face with the said boy, slowly lifted his hand and I gulped nervously as he's about to receive his first slap, which I can tell gonna be brutal. I noticed Mr. Han walking up behind him and grabbed his wrist harshly, sparing Cheng as he's seconds away from a reddening cheek.

"Don't," Mr. Han said as Master Li clenched his fist in the other man's hand.

Suddenly, Master Li struck out at Mr. Han and the attention turned towards the two men as they began to fight.

Just then, the maintenance man hopped into the stands, weaving through the audience gently. Master Li gave chase, shoving away who stood in his way. At one point, a boy in a brown jacket was almost knocked headfirst out of the stands, but Mr. Han managed to catch him and haul him back up just in time.

"Move aside! Move aside!" Mr. Han shouted, jumping off the stands and trying to get people to clear a space so that they wouldn't get hurt.

**"Mr. Han!"** Dre, still standing on the platform, shouted. **"Stop!"**

The two masters continued fighting anyway, moving towards the evacuated bench area. Caught up in his fury, Master Li grabbed a wooden bench and lobbed it at Mr. Han, who barely managed to deflect it and prevent it from hitting any innocent bystanders. While the maintenance man was occupied, Master Li grabbed a second bench and hurled that too, but Mr. Han managed to catch it by its front two legs.

Then, grabbing onto another bench, Master Li charged, and the two masters began fighting and blocking with the benches held before them. Seconds later, Mr. Han managed to disarm Master Li's bench and trap him beneath it.

We slowly approached with wide eyes and slack jaws.

Mr. Han looked over before getting up, releasing Master Li. Being a gentleman he is, Mr. Han grabbed Master Li's hand and pulled him up. He stumbled forward before catching his balance, coincidentally coming face-to-face with Cheng, face full of fear and stepped back.

Out of the blue, Master Li roared and sent his foot flying back, catching Mr. Han's stomach and pitching the man into a rack of weapons. Bringing his shoulders to his ears, the old man slipped between two of the weapons, landing on a padded red mat. With three quick jabs, Master Li knocked three of the weapons over, forcing Mr. Han to roll as fast as he could to the side in order to avoid being hit by the blades at the tip of the poles.

The fight continued onto the wooden platform where the gong was situated, and it was almost ten seconds later when Mr. Han managed to knock Master Li back right off the platform and onto a padded mat. Before he could get back up, Mr. Han leapt off, landing on Master Li's chest.

With his legs locking Master Li's arms down, Mr. Han straddled his chest, a fist at the ready as he glared with all his might down at Master Li. "Do not stop when our enemy is down. No mercy. No mercy in the studio. No mercy in competition. No mercy especially in life! Our enemy deserves pain."

We walked over to the two masters, looking at each other before looking at them.

Suddenly, Zhuang gritted his teeth and yelled, "Finish him! Finish him!"

Then, I heard Dre's voice, his tone differs from Zhuang's.

**"No, Mr. Han,"** Dre said calmly. **"No."**

Slowly, Mr. Han nodded, nearly stumbling as he got up and stepped over Master Li to meet Dre at the stairs to the platform. Unsteadily, Dre hopped down with injured legs, looking down at Master Li as he passed. Before he and Mr. Han walked past us, they looked at us and Cheng slammed his fist into his palm and we immediately did the same before bowing down deeply in respect.

As Dre and Mr. Han fists bumped and walked away, we got up and looked at each other.

We barely started to walk to our parents when we saw Dre's mother giving Mei Ying the trophy and punched Master Li in the face. We watched in awe and smiled in satisfaction as he finally got what he deserved.


	13. Chapter 13

A year later

Keung's POV

It was a few weeks after school had ended for the summer, and Chenguang and I are walking at the park, holding hands tightly. It had been four years since we've been able to do this. Chenguang was still walking a bit odd but I always took her out so she can improve her motor skills. I also helped her regain her Kung Fu skills along with the help of our friends and even Mr. Han. She even dreamt about being actually able to do Kung Fu and she wakes up with a feeling of enthusiasm and told me it felt so real.

Immediately after removing her tracheostomy, she decided to wait it out a little longer to let her trachea close after covering the front of her neck with a bandage under her doctor's advice and is expected to remove it after a couple weeks. One week later, she kissed me and finally uttered her first words.

"I love you, Keung," was met with nothing but happiness, despite stuttering a little bit because of her inability to speak for three years. That was a month later after she began her recovery process. As Chenguang is a fast learner, she taught herself to talk normally. She also brushed up her English speaking skill for her benefit.

While her motor skills improved significantly, she and the rest of us sat together in her parents' room which she still stayed in, which was no longer handicapped accessible after her improvement. We spoke for a really long time and told us stories of what she went through, what it's like, her thoughts and everything. She said that it was hard not being able to do anything and it would frustrate her a lot, but we made her disabled life a little more bearable just by coming to see her, asking her family how's she doing and me telling her I love her still. She also said that when she threw up and it aspirated into her lungs, it was torture for her. I can only imagine.

It's amazing. After three long hard years, not being able to go to school, not being able to do Kung Fu, not being able to do anything, except blink, while we created as a communication source, she finally even got to the point where she can start her process of rebuilding her basic life skills. But I would still wait for her if it meant years before she was able to do that, because she meant so much to me.

We finally broke the ice into telling her what Wu Ping had said about her. Of course, she was angered and disappointed. She told me she noticed that whenever Cheng looked at Wu Ping, he glared at him as if he is something Cheng couldn't even be bothered with, as if he was a waste of Cheng's time. She was wondering about that when I told her Cheng and Wu Ping had spoken personally before and he became annoyed when he discovered his ignorance.

Suddenly, I was hugged tightly. I grunted and looked down to see her squeezing my torso, while she loosened a little to keep me from being deprived of my oxygen. I held her tightly with the same degree, kissing her head. It's a wordless feeling.

The only thing I can say was, "I love you so much."

She responded with, "I love you forever, Keung."

She pulled back and grabbed my face, pressing her lips against mine. It felt so nice to be able to be with her again and do the stuff I wished we could've done.

With years of going through thick and thin, Chenguang and I became husband and wife and gave birth to our daughter Xiu Ying a year later. A few years later, we coverted to Judaism.

* * *

Fin


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